Ripple Effect
by ichliebelamp
Summary: Fashion shows, guys blow. Cops and robbers make things hotter. Schizos, nymphos, Kigo, and a couple hos. Break a hip with a road trip. If asked about this, I'll plead the fifth. Baley & Paylor tension. wow how embarassing. Don't read this, it sucks.
1. Reign of the Schizos

So...hello there...I actually posted a story...gasp! Well...I don't exactly know all the pairings yet...but I _do _know that it'll be femslash...just because femslash intrigues me. But ya know I am open to suggestions...that is if you read.

**Disclaimer**: No...I don't not own any of these characters and I don't believe I will do so any time soon.All characters and ideas that are from the show belong to the show and their owners. No money is being made off of this...so yea don't sue. Also, as I stated before, this will eventually be femslash. So if that doesn't float your boat then I apologize for wasting...30 seconds of your life that took you to read this.

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Ripple Effect

Brooke turned around in her bed to face the door to only see none other than Lucas Scott, whom she just happens to be 'non-exclusively' dating. Her head was spinning and she felt like vomiting, but she didn't know why…

_Shit. _She could see that hopeful smile he had on his face. There was a rustling next to her.

_Damnit Keller, stay down. _And in an instant, Lucas' hopeful smile turned into one of devastation and disappointment. Brooke closed her eyes not wanting to see the hurt look on his face…either that or what he would do next. She slowly opened her eyes to see if Lucas had done anything yet.

Empty doorway. He'd left without saying a word. She was pretty sure that Keller had on a cocky smile next to her.

_He sure as hell did last night… _Brooke lets out a groan at the thought of last night. Not remembering much, she blamed the alcohol. _Did I have anything to drink…? _And as if on cue Keller says something rather loudly causing her head to feel as if it were split in half. _I guess that answers if I had alcohol or not…_

She then realized that she was naked under her sheets.

"Ugh…damnit…" Brooke's head was pounding, "Keller get your naked ass out of my apartment"

"You didn't seem to mind last night." Chris said this with that all-knowing smirk of his.

She had the urge to wipe that smirk off his face but she was in no condition to be trying to pick a fight in the state that she was in at the moment. Looking for her clothes, Brooke began planning on what to do about Lucas. _Good job Davis, you went after him, got him, and lost him. And it doesn't really help that you fell for the guy…Shut up…no you shut up, I'm you_,_ you dumbass… _And with that, Brooke wrapped her sheets around her and headed for the bathroom.

"If you are not gone by the time I get back" Brooke stopped for a moment to glare, "I will kick your ass so hard that it'll make you go bald." _…Yea…that totally made sense Davis… _And with that, Brooke stormed off to the bathroom to try and gain back what little sanity she had left.

Deciding that it would be best to not try and piss off a cheerleader with a hangover, Chris Keller picked up his clothes and started to leave.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Brooke just stood in front of the mirror looking at herself. She closed her eyes to try and remember what happened last night. _Ok you were talking…to him…and you had a few drinks, then what? He was complimenting my clothes…then we drank… _And then the rest was a blur, but she was pretty sure she got the idea of what went on. She then had a horrible feeling in her stomach, luckily the toilet was nearby. She ran over to it and threw up. _Heh…what now, going bulimic?_

"Shut up…" Brooke said this to no one in particular since there was nobody in the vicinity. _Wow…I must be going mad, first I cheat on Lucas, who I am in love with by the way now I'm arguing with myself…what a way to start out the day._

She turned on the water in her shower. _Ok…I just need to think this through…unlike last night… _She stepped into the scorching hot shower trying to cleanse herself of the evils she committed last night. _Must…get…clean… _Brooke reached for a loofah and soap and started scrubbing. Her skin was turning red but she could've cared less considering what was on it…

_Oh my god… _It finally hit her. _I cheated on him…I…cheated…on him… _Her soap and loofah slipped from her grasp, and she did as well. The brunette slipped onto the floor of her tub and curled up into a ball, sobbing. _Why? Why! I love him… But do you really? _Came a voice in the back of her head. _Yes…we're meant for each other…he even said so… _Deciding that thinking right now was not for the best, Brooke just laid there in her fetal position crying, with the shower still on.

Seeing her apartment door open, Haley James walked in thinking that there might've been a robber. _Oh no oh no oh no…I'm gonna die… You? Hon, Brooke might be in more trouble considering she was here the whole day…Oh … right… _And with that Haley rushed further into the apartment looking for Brooke. Hearing the shower on, Haley relaxed thinking nothing bad must've happened. She look around the apartment to make sure that nothing was stolen. Haley sat down on the couch seeing there was nothing else to do. _Wait a tic… _Thinking about what Brooke and Lucas must've done a few days ago she thought it might be better to sit on the ground.

After about 15 minutes and no word from Brooke yet, Haley started to panic again. _Omigod, I should've checked on her earlier. What if there was a robber and he attacked Brooke IN the shower? Omigod omigod omigod… _After gaining her composure, Haley walked up to the bathroom door.

"Tigger? Are you ok in there?" After not hearing a response, Haley slowly opened the door to peek in. Then she saw her, a naked Brooke laying in the shower unconscious.

_Oh my god. SHE'S DEAD! Calm down you spaz she might be asleep… Right asleep…in the shower…with the water running…naked. _Haley then closed her eyes realized the un-clothed Brooke laying there. She stumbled over to the shower trying to find the knob. _C'mon where is it… Why are my eyes even closed? We're both girls…nothing I haven't seen before…right? _Haley opened her eyes to find the knob to the shower and only the knob. _Right…no peeking at Brooke… _After getting the shower turned off, Haley looked around for a towel big enough to cover Brooke. When she spotted one, Brooke began to wake up.

_Ugh…this stupid headache… and why am I wet and cold? _Brooke then sat up quickly thinking that the happenings of last night occurred again. She looked around panicked wondering why she was in the tub. _Oh right…shower…wait…why is Tutor Girl here?_

"Haley?" Brooke asked in a hoarse whisper. Haley then spun around quickly and let out a little shriek…well more like an 'eep'.

"Ah! Brooke! You're alive- um I mean…um…" Haley then realized Brooke was still naked and turned around. "I mean you were in here for a while so I got worried and came in to check and you were just laying there not moving so I assumed the worse but then thought you might just be sleeping but the door was open so I thought some robber might've came in to steal something and attack you and-"

"Ok stop…you're babbling and I have a headache so this isn't the best time for it." Brooke cut in, finding it cute that Haley was worried about her. She then noticed the towel that Haley was holding. "Hey um…you wanna hand me that towel you're holding? I'm kinda naked…I know my body is hot and all but you sort of have a husband and stuff…"

Haley threw the towel over head, for not wanting to turn around to let Brooke see her blush.

Brooke decided that she might as well not tell Haley just yet what happened last night so she tried to keep the mood light by joking around. She smirked as she got an idea. "But ya know…since Nathan isn't here…and I'm here…and you're here," Brooke got up and wrapped the towel around her body, she then started to walk up behind Haley. "but you've got those pesty clothes on you and I'm all naked…we should fix that…" and at that Brooke touched Haley's shoulder.

Haley's eyes bulged out of her head. _She's kidding…of course she's kidding…I mean she has Luke and I have Nathan…she's kidding right? Right! _"I-I-I think I hear the door Brooke." And with that Haley sped out of the bathroom.

Brooke smirked, satisfied at the reaction she got out of Haley. _So…Tutor Girl must be uncomfortable with the whole girl-on-girl deal…gotta do this more often… _Brooke then sighed getting out of the bathroom to put on some clothes. She then started thinking again what she should do about Lucas. _I have to talk to him…and tell what happened my way…I mean it's not like I willingly jumped into bed with Chris… But did I?…Of course not stupid. You love Lucas, Lucas Scott, and don't you forget it. Love… this is a word that shouldn't be thrown around…and we …or I know it… _Not being able to take it anymore Brooke broke down once again. But this time she was sobbing on her bedroom floor and only half-naked.

Outside in the living room, Haley sat at the couch thinking of what the hell just happened. _She didn't mean anything by that…I mean she's straight…we're BOTH straight. _But if it were true, then why did she feel on fire when Brooke had touched her shoulder? Haley didn't want to elaborate on the situation any longer so she got up to see what Brooke was up to…and hoping that she was fully dressed this time. When she was getting closer to the bedroom door, she could hear some muffled noises.

"Brooke?" No response, just more muffled noises. "Brooke? What's going on? Are you ok?" Haley walked into the room to find Brooke once again of the floor, but this time she was sobbing. She walked over to the brunette to see what was wrong. There weren't any visible physical injuries… "Brooke? Sweetie, what happened?" Haley then took Brooke's head and laid her in her lap.

Brooke just cried and held onto Haley's legs for dear life.

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Well...If you people actually read it till here without leaving then I congratulate you for actually being able to stand all that... So...liked it? hated it? so and so? Tell me! But ya know...if you're too lazy then I understand...it's how I am all the time on here... Meh, I might continue with this story...that is if I ever get bored in physics again. insert indifferent and or winking smiley here Yea...we need smileys on this site...and it also sucks that I can't use my illegal HTML And by illegal I mean according to these sites standards. Ok well this is one long author's note...annnnnnnd stopping...now.

Review if you wish!...or flame it's all good.

Oh yea one more thing... if there is anybody out there reading this that would want a certain pairing or something then review and I'll take your suggestions along with me to physics. But yea like I said, it's gonna be femslash so don't review demanding a Naley or Brucas pairing.

Ok...Now I'm done.


	2. Cops and Robbers

Whoa...there are people who like this story? Yay, go me. So thanks to all that reviewed...it made my day...no really it did. So concerning those reviews...you all seem to pretty much want a Baley fic...hmm. Well I guess this'll be a Baley fic then...but then again maybe not. There are a ton of Baley fics out there that are _really _good, and if I throw in my story with them, it'll be like an insult to them...well in my mind it would. But if that's what the people want then, "Let them eat cake."

**Disclaimer on the first chapter applies to this one and all future chapters.**

Well then, on with the story!

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Ripple Effect

Haley sat there comforting Brooke, trying to get her to calm down. She patted her back and drew little circles just like her sister used to do to console her. After about 30 minutes, Brooke had calmed down enough to fall asleep. _Ok James…now what? If I wake her up she might have another breakdown, and if I try to move her to the bed I might kill her… _Haley decided to let Brooke sleep for fear that if she tried to carry her to the bed, she'd drop her. There was a sound in the living room as the door opened. _Oh no…oh no oh no oh no oh no…it's a real robber this time! _Haley began to have a mini-hyperventilating attack as she thought of what would happen to her and Brooke. _No, I'm too young to die! Oh and…Brooke…Brooke…still needs to go to college! Calm down stupid it might be Luke checking up on Brooke…Right. Wait…I'm not stupid, I'm you. Then why are you talking to yourself?…Shut up. _And at that, Haley gently laid Brooke's head down on the floor so she can go see who's in the living room. As Haley tried to put Brooke down, she held on tightly, not wanting to let go.

"C'mon Brooke, let go, I have to see if there's a psycho in the living room." Brooke furrowed her brow slightly at this, as if she were actually listening to what Haley was saying. Haley smiled at this. _She looks so adorable…aside from the tear-stained cheeks of course…wait what? Adorable? _Before Haley could elaborate any further in her thoughts, someone tapped lightly on the bedroom door.

"Helloooo?" came a familiar female voice.

"Peyton?"

"What are you doing here?"

"…I live here with Brooke."

"Oh…right…" Peyton replied tensely. She was being cold and she knew it. She couldn't forgive Haley for walking out on her…not just yet. It still hurt too much. "What's with Brooke?"

"I don't know, I found her lying in the shower when I got home and when she woke up she was crying and I tried consoling her…" Haley trailed off at the end not wanting to talk much knowing that Peyton was probably still mad.

Peyton raised an eyebrow with an amused look. "You consoled her…in the shower?"

"No! No, it's nothing like that. When she got out of the shower she started crying in her room and then she fell asleep and then you came over." Haley explained to Peyton not wanting her to get the wrong idea. _But would it be so bad?…Yes! How so…? _Before Haley could retort to herself Peyton had said something. "I-I'm sorry what did you say?"

"I just said that take care of Brooke for now, I'll be back later when she's…stable." Peyton couldn't think of any other word because she had no idea what was going on with Brooke at the moment. As she turned around to leave Haley called out to her.

"Wait Peyton, we need to talk."

"No Haley, not now, I still need time and space from you." Peyton said this without turning to look at the other girl. _That's right Sawyer…keep your back to her so you can't see that hurt look that **you** put there…_

"We have to do this sometime Pey…I miss you…" Haley had said the last part softly so Peyton could barely hear it. And even if she had, she probably would've just thought that she was going mad. _I know I am…_

Peyton sighed softly. "Sometime…but sometime isn't now-" Before Peyton could say anymore, Brooke started waking up. "Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty."

Brooke let out a groan, opening her eyes only to be blinded by the sunlight. _Sunlight…sunlight equals outdoors which equals sports which equals basketball which equals Lucas. _After thinking that last part, Brooke starts sniffling again. What starts out as a sniffle turns into a full sob within 30 seconds. Peyton rushed over to Brooke as Haley tries to get Brooke to sit up right.

Peyton reached Brooke and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey now, Brookie what's wrong?"

"C'mon talk to us." Haley said as she rubbed Brooke's back soothingly, ignoring the fluttery feeling she just got in the pit of her stomach. _Hmm…I didn't eat anything bad today…did I? _Putting the strange feeling aside for now, Haley went back to focus on finding out what was wrong with Brooke.

"I-I-I slept with him!" Brooke got out in between sobs.

Then Haley's fluttery feeling in her stomach was gone, only to be replaced by a sinking feeling. Yet again, Haley put off the feeling until later. _Oh joy…turning into quite the procrastinator now are we? _Haley ignored her conscious and turned her attention back to Brooke. _"_Who, Luke?" Haley tried to figure out what was wrong with that…since they were technically dating.

"No!" Brooke spluttered out and cried even harder.

Peyton tried to make sense of what Brooke was saying. Thinking back over the events of last night she remembered being at Brooke's house with other people…then she left and the only people that were left were Brooke and…Chris! Peyton's mouth dropped at her realization. _There's no way she would sleep with him…would she? _"…Was…was it Chris?"

Brooke nodded her head slowly. "Y-Yes. Oh god I can't believe I slept with him. And that's not even the worse part," Brooke by now had calmed down enough to form coherent sentences. "…Lucas walked in and saw us sometime during the night."

Peyton and Haley just sat there silently absorbing in all the information. After a few moments of awkwardness and Brooke still silently sobbing, Peyton was the first to speak.

"What happened? …He didn't force himself on you did he? If he did I will kick that bastard's skinny ass."

Brooke chuckled lightly. _Under different circumstances, Lucas should've been the one to say that… _"No…I don't think so. We were just sitting there after you all left and we were having a few drinks. Then he said that my clothes for Suburban Filth were gorgeous and then we toasted to that a few times…and I don't know you guys know how I get after a few drinks…"

"…He didn't sing to you did he?" Haley finally spoke up in what seemed forever.

"Oh my god, I'm a groupie." Once again, Brooke breaks down into sobs, and the other two girls try to console her.

"Cheer up Brookie, Lucas should know that you didn't sleep with him on purpose if he really loved you. Just give it time…he'll forgive you sooner or later…Hell, we all did for the crap you pulled on us." Haley smiled a little thinking back on what her relationship with Brooke used to be like. It was always the mutual understanding of you-stay-out-of-my-life-I-stay-out-of-yours. But now unbeknownst to everybody, they ended up being friends and moving in together. But something in the back of her head was trying to tell her something…something more. _More…there should be more…but more what? _Before Haley could finish her thought, Brooke broke into another fit of sobs.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I mean I'm pretty sure he won't look at me let alone talk to me…" Brooke trailed off because she had buried her head into Haley's shoulder. "Help me Tutor Girl…"

Peyton just sat there, looking at Brooke and Haley. _When did they get so close…? Aren't I supposed to be her best friend?_

But Haley on the other hand was having trouble breathing. _Ok…Brooke is way too close… _"Umm…ahem, maybe Peyton knows what to do?" Haley frantically looked over at Peyton, silently begging her to get Brooke off.

Peyton just looked at Haley oddly but intervened anyway. "Ok Brooke, stop crying, you've never broken down before and you sure as hell won't start now you. I swear all you cheerleaders are starting to become the same person." As pathetic as it was, Peyton's attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work.

Brooke nodded slightly and flung one of her arms around Peyton, pulling her close. "Thanks Peyt…I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

"Well I do, you'd just be another shallow drama queen that has minions all over the school to do her bidding." Peyton just couldn't help but tease her just a little bit.

Brooke took her arm off of Peyton and muttered, "Bitch." but couldn't do so without smiling.

Peyton faked a mock hurt look and pouted. "Ouch…my pride. I hate you B Davis."

"Oh well, at least Tutor Girl here still loves me, don't ya Tutor Girl?" Brooke asked as she buried her face into Haley's arm.

"…Right, of course I…love you Brooke, don't we all?" Haley, at the moment not wanting to hear what the voice in her head had to say about that, decided to just play with the hem of her shirt.

"Pfft, I don't." Peyton shot out with a smirk on her face.

"Shut up Blondie, you know you love me, I'm adorable." Brooke said with an even bigger smirk.

Nobody seemed to have a comeback to that which left Brooke quite satisfied. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Haley realizes it's a school day. "On no, it's a Friday! And we've missed at least 2 of our classes already!" Haley's comment was met with a couple of blank stares from Brooke and Peyton…until Brooke smirked.

"Well Tutor Girl, looks like you played hooky today without even knowing it. Damn. I must be rubbing off on you." _Hmm…to rub off or umm…on Haley…now that would be interesting… Wait what the hell? _Before Brooke could process what had just gone through her head, Haley had stood up.

"Let's go you guys, we can't miss the whole day. And besides…don't you two have cheer practice or something for tonight's game?" Haley was determined on getting to school for not wanting to be left alone with her thoughts.

Brooke groaned remembering that tonight's game was the first one of the season. Then Haley started tugging on her and Peyton to get up.

"Let's go Tigger, up up up! I can't miss school…" _Sometimes, I just can't stand her stubbornness…but it's sexy though right? Right. Wait NO! No no no no! _Haley started fighting against herself again…mentally.

"Too late, you're already missing it." Brooke replied while trying to stay seated by holding onto Peyton. She then looked over at Peyton to try to get her to help get Haley to back off.

"Yea she's right, today is pretty important. The rest of the cheer team won't be too happy if we don't show." Peyton replied reluctantly. _Ugh…why can' I just stay here with her. Life just has to throw school in just to make it so damn complicated…_

Brooke, not wanting to face Lucas just yet needed to stay home and come up with a plan of attack…to apologize. "No, not now, not ever."

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I apologize if this chapter/story seems a bit...rushed. I write it during class because I get bored and basically this is what comes out...so I blame the short attention span.

So...review if you wish...or flame I really don't care because it makes me feel special that flamers take the time to insult me over the interweb...so yea go for it.

Oh and tell me if you would like this story to continue as Baley...or umm...throw in a 'ship that you'd want to see and I'll think about it.


	3. Le Grand Retour

So…I'm back…and with an update! Huzzah…?

So um…yea… the pairing…I bet you're just all dying for me to confirm what it is…well I guess I'll just stick with Baley…but I might/will change my mind at any time…so yea keep that in mind…

Well then on with the story!

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Ripple Effect

After debating with Brooke for a few minutes, Peyton and Haley figured it would be best if they went to school and Brooke stayed at home. This way they won't miss all their classes, and Brooke can be alone with her thoughts to think about what to do with Lucas. But just in case, Brooke was told…or more like commanded to keep her cell phone on.

As Haley and Peyton were leaving, Haley couldn't help but feel as if they were being bad friends by leaving Brooke alone. "Peyton…shouldn't at least one of us stay with her?" Haley asked hesitantly.

"She's a big girl now, I think she'll be offended if we watch over her like a couple of nosy parents." But a part of Peyton just wanted to watch over her…and hold her… _Stop it Sawyer, pull yourself up before you fall too deep…_

Haley just fumed at this. _Nosy parents! Being worried for your friend isn't being nosy, it's called being caring. Yea, keep telling yourself that Haley…you just want to watch her… you weirdo. Shut up! You do too, you're me. No wait…what? No I don't… I just want to make sure Brooke's ok… _Not wanting to argue with herself just yet, she decided to reply to Peyton. "I know but…what if she breaks down again…" _Oh give it up James, you know a part of you wants her to break down so you can come to her rescue and hold her. _Haley's face frowned slightly, not knowing why she's been having these thoughts lately. Not wanting to think about it, Haley looked over at Peyton.

Peyton, feeling eyes on her looked over at Haley. "…What?"

"I asked what if Brooke has another break down." Haley said wondering if Peyton was zoning out on her…or just ignoring her.

Peyton looked back to where she was walking, "Oh I thought you were talking more to yourself than me…umm I don't know…maybe we could call her every hour or something and check up on her…" Peyton replied rather sluggishly, not looking at Haley. _C'mon Sawyer snap out of it, get over this stupid little crush. No, it's not a crush…it's nothing… _Peyton just sighed and reached into her pocket, fiddling around for her car keys.

"Hey umm…do you want to walk to school together?" Haley asked seeing Peyton look for her keys. _Yea…maybe this time I can get her to talk to me…_

"No, I have my car," Peyton said quickly, "…but thanks for the offer, besides I have to go home and pick up something." She added after seeing Haley's hurt face. _Good going…_

"Oh…ok then, I guess I'll see you at school." Haley replied trying to mask her sadness. _I guess it'll be awhile until 'sometime'…_

"Yea…at school." Peyton said as she reached her car and got in without even giving Haley a second glance. _Stupid stupid stupid, why didn't you just walk with her? Or at least offer her a ride…_ Without even a wave to Haley, Peyton drove off.

Haley sighed as she walked towards the school alone. _Now that it's just me, myself, and I, I might be able to think properly… _But before she could get any thinking done, someone called out to her.

"Haley-bub?" came a voice.

Haley stopped walking. _…Only one person in the world calls me that…_ As Haley turned around to see the owner of the voice, she tripped over a pebble and fell on the sidewalk. "Ah! Owie…_" _Haley cried clutching her knee which she just scraped.

"Haley! Are you ok?" someone said as they ran to her aid.

"…Taylor?" Haley asked, while being pulled up by her sister.

"The one and only," Taylor said as she flashed her a pearly smile, "but seriously, are you ok Haley?"

"Yea yea I'm fine," Haley replied, wondering why her sister would be back in Tree Hill…not that she minded of course. "What are you doing back?"

"What…I need a reason to come see my Haley-bub now?" Taylor asked in amusement.

"Well…knowing you…probably." Haley said as she pulled her in for a hug. "I've missed you sooo much."

"Aww, I've missed you too schnookums, " Taylor teased as she hugged her sister back. "So what in the world are you doing out of school? Aren't you going for the 'Perfect Attendance Award'?" Taylor asked mockingly, hoping that it would get them off the subject of why she was back in Tree Hill.

"Oh umm…I slept in?" Haley said lamely.

Taylor quirked an eyebrow at her sister's excuse. "Uh huh…and this is coming from the girl that sets her clock 15 minutes fast? Give me back my Haley you imposter!"

"Alright you caught me, I'm playing hooky and then I'm planning to go get wasted at 11:30 in the morning." Haley said as she put up her arms in defeat.

"Oooh…I take that back, I think I like this Haley." Taylor said with a smile. "But seriously though…why aren't you in class?"

"Brooke was having problems so I stayed with her to calm her down."

"Brooke…Brooke Davis? The Brooke 'I'm-so-fantastic-and-popular-and-hot-and-in-your-face-I'm-better-than-you-' Davis? That one?" Taylor asked. She wasn't so out of the Tree Hill loop so that she would be surprised that Haley would be hanging out with her. She loved her sister to death but she knew that she didn't exactly run with the 'in-crowd'.

"Yes and no. Yes as in it's that Brooke, and no as in she's not like that anymore. I like her now." Haley said defensively. _Maybe a little too much… _Brooke may have been just another superficial high school girl but she's different now…more mature in some aspects.

"Right…is she blackmailing you or something? Because you can tell me…then I'll go and kick her ass for you…or um get someone who can if she's one of those 'hefty' girls…" Taylor said, finding it kind of hard to believe that Haley would affiliate herself with Brooke.

"Haha, even if she were, I could take her out myself. She's a skinny one. But thanks for the offer Tay." Haley said, amused at her sister's overprotective-ness and the image of Taylor trying to beat up Brooke. _No fool, stop. Taylor beating up Brooke isn't funny. It's bad. Bad! Brooke beat up equals bad, Brooke perfectly fine equals good…yes. Very, very good… No stop this Haley! _Before Haley could admonish herself for thinking like that Taylor cut in through her train of thought.

"So…you going somewhere or are you planning on spending some time with the awesome-tastic Taylor?" _…Now why did I just refer to myself in the third person? Oooh yea…I am totally The Rock… 'Can you smell…what the Tay is cooking!' Hehe… _Taylor laughed at herself mentally…

"So you speak in the third person now?" Haley asked her sister. "And yes I'm going somewhere, I was on my way to school actually." _Or ya know…you could just blow it off just for today…_

"Nonsense! You know you want to spend some time with me…besides…you don't want me to get lonely now do you?" Taylor asked giving her a puppy dog face.

Haley checked her watch. _12:06 _She sighed… _Well there's only like 2 classes left for the day…it can't hurt to skip and hang with Taylor…_ "Well…fine. But only if you don't drag me to the mall or something." Haley said not wanting to get caught by the authorities and having to explain why she wasn't in class. _God…I am such a nerd…_

"Yay!" Taylor squealed as she grabbed Haley's hand and walked her over to her car.

"When did you get a car? Or even better…when were you able to afford one?" Haley asked knowing that her sister wasn't the working type, and it's not like their parents just throw them money to buy things. _Oh no…she didn't steal it did she? Quiet! It's your sister…you've got to have more faith in her…even though the chances of her stealing it are pretty high…_

Taylor rolled her eyes, "No I didn't steal it if that's what you're implying…someone lent it to me." She said wanting to get off the subject. _…I can't tell her…not yet…_

"O…k?" Haley replied, finding it odd that anyone would lend Taylor a car. _Wow…they must be very trusting or out of their minds… _Once the girls got into the car, Haley could smell a smoky odor in the car. _Hmm…the owner of the car must've been a smoker…_

"So where to baby sis?" Taylor asked.

"I don't know…how about we go somewhere to eat, I haven't had lunch yet." the younger girl replied.

"Alrighty then, it's off to the chain of killers we call fast food." Taylor said as she drove off.

Meanwhile Peyton was at school, sitting in a room with Whitey, the cheerleading squad, and the basketball players. Whitey was going over some plays while the rest were to take notes. Peyton looked over at Lucas. "Hey there Broody." She whispered.

"Peyton." Lucas acknowledged her but didn't say anything else, he didn't even turn to look at her.

_Ok then…_ "So…I um…heard what happened with Brooke." Peyton saw Lucas wince a bit at the mention of Brooke's name.

"And?" Lucas replied coldly, evidently still angry at Brooke.

"Well… you do know she didn't mean to right? And you do know she's sorry and she loves you right?" Peyton said, trying to break the ice for Brooke.

Lucas scoffed. "Love? She loves me Peyton? Well she sure has a hell of a way of showing it." _She wouldn't even know what love is if it were offered to her right in front of her face…which it was._

Peyton just decided to drop it for now, thinking that it wouldn't be best to get into a fight with him in the middle of Whitey's lecture.

When the class was over, they went their separate ways. Lucas to practice, and Peyton to find Haley. _Huh…she usually has English last…where is she? _Before she could go look for her, Peyton was being dragged off by a cheerleader to go practice for tonight's big game. _Oh joy._

And without anyone's knowledge, Brooke was lurking in the shadows, waiting for the hallway to clear. Once all the students had left, Brooke left her hiding spot. She went over to Lucas' locker to decorate it, to keep to the tradition of the first game of the season. She brought all of the pictures of them together that she had to put on the inside of his locker. Then she put in red and pink ribbons that formed hearts. After about 10 minutes, Brooke was satisfied with the results and turned to leave, not wanting to stay for the game. _I'll just come back later… to see his reaction. _And with that, Brooke left, hoping that that would be enough to get Lucas to talk to her.

At around 7, Haley, had told Taylor to drop her off at the school since there was a game going on.

While the sisters were out, they had a chance to catch up, mainly talking about what's been going on with Haley because every time the conversation steered towards Taylor, she found a way to switch it around.

When Taylor found out that Haley and Nathan were pretty much on a time-out she was relieved in some ways. _Good…she's not with him anymore…he doesn't deserve her…not when he has the nerve to treat Haley like that… _Taylor mused as she sat in the car watching Haley walk into the school. At the last second, Taylor jumped out of the car and followed Haley. _Well as long as I'm here I might as well go watch the game…and check the out the cheer- er…basketball players…right… _Once she had gone into the gym, she scanned the crowd for Haley. When she spotter her, a devilish grin formed on her face. "HALEY-BUB! HAAAAALEY! Did you save me a seat honey? Haaaaley! Over here!" Taylor screamed as she waved her arms around. Since the game hadn't started yet, the crowd was still pretty tame so they could all hear her.

Haley's mouth just dropped when she heard her sister screaming her name like a mother. Not knowing what to do, she just buried her face in her hands. _Dear God…just like zap her to New Zealand for a couple of hours…please? _Haley silently prayed…hoping it would work. When she looked back up, Taylor was making her way over to her. _Well…it can't get much worse…can it?_ Right when she said that, Taylor had tripped and fell towards Haley's side, knocking her over which then made her slam into the person next to her, causing the 'domino effect'. Nearly all the people in her row had fallen over sideways.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry all you youngsters! It's just that I'm getting so old and clumsy now!" Taylor yelled as she got off of Haley and sat down next to her.

"…Just by showing up I think you just jinxed our whole team." Haley said smiling and shaking her head at Taylor's antics.

Taylor just mocked glared at her. "No way, I'm a lucky charm. Ten bucks says that they'll totally win." And with that the girls shook hands.

_Chump…what an easy ten dollars._

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Oh em gee! I brought Taylor back! Holy jumping fish chips! Well…if you're wondering I do have a reason for bringing her back…I just have to figure it out…

Soooo…review if you must…

Until next time people!


	4. To Be Young and Reckless

Oh jeez...I'm back with yet another update. I was going to wait until like...Monday to post this because it feels kinda weird updating every day versus the other authors who update like...monthly. But...oh well I'm a weird person so it's all good.

**So disclaimer still in effect...**

Well then on with the story!

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Ripple Effect

A few minutes before the game started, Haley wanted to go check on Peyton and to wish Nathan luck if she happened to run into him. "Wait here Taylor, I'm going to be right back."

Taylor faked a hurt look. "Y-You're going to leave me? All alone?"

Haley just rolled her eyes as she tried weaving her way through the crowd.

"Make sure you come back with some eye candy on your arm!" Taylor yelled after Haley. _Preferably a blonde one…yep…a blonde chi- oh looky! It's the mascot!_

As Haley walked into one of the weight rooms, hoping to find either Peyton or Nathan, she didn't find either. But she did find a blonde. _ What the hell does he think he's doing here?_ Haley turned to leave but before she could get far, the blonde called out to her.

"Hey there hot stuff, come back for more?" Chris Keller said in his oddly effeminate voice.

Haley turned around to give him a disgusted look. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here you jackass." _That one's for Lucas._

"Chris Keller shows his face where it's needed. And it looks like this school really needs it seeing how there are oh so many single ladies here…" Chris said while donning a smirk.

"Yea well Chris Keller should check in the mirror first before going out in public. Looks like no one told you about the ass on your face…oh wait, that's just your face." Haley replied hotly getting tired of bantering with him. _That one's for Brooke…_

Chris' smirk was wiped off his face but was replaced by a frown. "You should watch what you say James before Chris Keller gets really mad." He said as he started walking towards Haley.

Haley seeing his advancement took a few steps back. "What are you going to do? Sing me to death?…Oh wait that actually would be bad…I don't want to go deaf from hearing the siren that you call a singing voice." _And that one…that's for me._

Chris getting fed up with Haley's insults moved towards her and grabbed her wrists. "What now? Looks like your witty remarks won't get you out of this." He said as he pushed her up against the weight equipment.

Haley closed her eyes while trying to break free. _Oh no, what have I gotten myself into? _Haley continued struggling because the equipment that was digging into her back was starting to hurt.

"Those witty insults won't help but this will." Someone said as they threw something at Chris.

As Chris fell to the floor and released his grip on Haley, Haley opened her eyes to see who her savior was. "Peyton?" She asked softly.

"Who were you expecting, Superman?" Peyton asked smiling slightly. "Did he hurt you?"

"No…he didn't get to do much, he just shoved me against something and then you came in." Haley said silently thanking the gods that Peyton came when she did. _Who knows what he would've done to me…_

"Oh…good. I should've thrown more than a dumbbell at him…but at least he'll be knocked out for a few hours now…" Peyton said, glaring slightly at Chris' unconscious form on the floor. "So what were you doing back here anyways?"

"Oh I just came to wish you and Nathan luck…" Haley said almost forgetting why she wandered away from the stands in the first place.

"…Thanks I guess…" Peyton said. Not knowing what else to say, Peyton just kept quiet. But before either of the girls could think of something to say, someone interrupted.

"Peyton let's go! We have to go in now!" Someone called as they came in to grab Peyton.

"Ok ok I'm coming" She said as she turned towards Haley. "Sorry I've gotta go…it's the reign of the cheerleaders I say…"

Haley smiled. "No it's ok, I need to get back to Taylor anyways. Bye!"

_Taylor? Taylor who? Do we know a Taylor? _Before Peyton could ask Haley about it she was dragged away by the cheerleader.

Haley turned to go back to the gym the other way. Before she left the weight room, a thought popped into her head. She ran back to the still unconscious Chris Keller and pulled out her eyeliner. After drawing something on his face, Haley walked away smiling. _They say payback is a bitch…_

Once Haley returned to the gym to where Taylor was sitting she started getting nervous. _I hope Nathan does ok…and where's Brooke? She loves going to these things… Oh right…maybe she doesn't want to see Lucas yet… _Haley just frowned at that last part. _But is it really so bad if they don't make up? I mean it's not like it's really worked between them before and now with…this happening…maybe it's for the best…wait what am I thinking? I want Brooke to be happy…and if she needs Lucas to do so then so be it… But don't I make her happy? _Before Haley could think anymore, the lights in the gym dimmed.

"Ooooh goody! It's starting!" Taylor squealed.

"Jeez you make it seem like you haven't been to one of these things…wow…you really are getting old." Haley said smirking at her sister.

"Oh shut up I'm not that old…I'm like what 3 or 4 years older than you? That's not much…" Taylor replied.

"3 or 4 years? So when you were like 3 I wasn't even alive yet. Sheesh…granny…" Haley teased.

Taylor just rolled her eyes. "…I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Ah but you just did Einstein"

"…Shut up."

Before Haley could continue teasing her sister, the cheerleaders came out as some music came on. They just pretty much did a lot of jumping around and screaming the name of the team they're representing.

"Pfft…cheerleaders. It's not even possible to be that skinny." Taylor said into Haley's ear. _But ya know…it's not like it's a bad thing…_

Haley just giggled as she shook her head. The game started after the cheerleaders finished and the players came out. But someone coming in through one of the side doors distracted her. _Shouldn't he still be unconscious? Oh well…at least my mark is still there._ Haley mused as she saw Chris Keller making his way to the crowd. When he tried sitting down with a group of girls, they just raised their eyebrows at him and laughed.

"What? Can't take the heat of Chris Keller? Don't worry babes, I'll tone it down just a bit for you girls." Chris said, oblivious to what he had on his forehead.

Taylor noticing what was going on turned to Haley. "Why does he have an ass on his face?"

Haley just grinned. "Because sis…that is his face."

"…Um…ok…?" Taylor said a bit confused. _An ass for a face?…ooooh….OH! I get it! _"So you're saying he's ugly right right right right? I'm totally right…I'm so smart…" Taylor said to Haley.

"Wow…and you figured it out all by yourself…although you were a bit slow but you did all by yourself! I'm so proud of you Tay." Haley said grinning even wider now.

"Oh shut up and watch the game." Taylor said as she turned her attention back to the game. The Ravens were losing and it was nearing half-time. _Damnit…I hope Haley doesn't remember our little bet… _During half-time, the cheerleaders came back to do a little encore. _Man…it's too bad they're all under 18... Whoa Taylor control yourself! _Once the cheerleaders finished, the basketball players came back out to finish the game. Not wanting to let her mind think of anything else disturbing she turned to Haley. "So…where's that one chick that you used to hang out with the last time I was here?"

"Um…you're going to have to be a little more specific…" Haley said raising an eyebrow.

"Ya know that one blonde with the weird-ass name." _It's like…Triton or something… yea…_

"You mean Peyton?" Haley asked. _Weird name? Alrighty then…_

"Right! Peyton! So where is she?" _Triton? Wow that was way off…no not really…it rhymes…_

"Right in front of you. She's the cheerleader with the shoulder length hair by the sidelines down there."

"Cheerleader? Oh wow…" Taylor said surprised. _Cheerleader? Jackpot! …Wait what? Well…it's looks like Peyton did some growing up… _Taylor observed…looking away quickly so that Haley wouldn't get suspicious of her.

"…Yea. You ok Tay? You look a little hot. Are you getting sick?" Haley asked getting concerned for her sister.

"No no I'm fine, it's just a bit crowded in here." Taylor said looking away. After about another 10 minutes, the game ended, with the Ravens losing 58-36. _Ok…now to get away from Haley nonchalantly and you'll save yourself 10 bucks. Nice. _As Taylor stood up getting ready to leave Haley grabbed her arm.

"Hold up there sissy, you owe me 10 dollars." _That's right, I remembered…go me!_

"Aw but come on, I'm your sister you shouldn't be taking money from me! I need it! I'm getting old!" Taylor whined.

"Don't worry, just think of it as being 10 bucks closer to getting put into a nice retirement home." The younger girl replied laughing.

"Oh you suck." Taylor said as she fished out 10 dollars from her purse and giving it to Haley.

"But you love me so it's all good." Haley replied putting the 10 dollars into her own purse. _I totally rock…_

"Yea yea, c'mon let's go now."

"Before we leave can I say hi to some people?" Haley asked, wanting to talk to Nathan at least once that night.

"Sure why not…" Taylor said. _As long as one of them is Peyton…_

Haley led Taylor out of the gym to go outside and wait by the door where the athletes usually come out of. After waiting for about 10 minutes or so, Peyton finally emerged. "Hey…"

"Hey yourself." Peyton replied to Haley then looked over at Taylor. "You…you look familiar." Peyton said as she tried to remember how she knows her.

"Oh well I just have one of those faces where I look like someone you think you know but you actually don't and it just turns out to be some trippy illusion." Taylor replied grinning. _Well then…seems like she remembers me …sorta… Let's make sure she won't forget this face the next time we meet. Whoa, no Taylor…calm down… Think minor…miiiinor…yes…it's illegal…_ Before Taylor could continue her mantra chant, Haley cut in.

"Peyton this is my sister Taylor, you guys met before I think…" Haley said not wanting Taylor to scare Peyton away.

"Oh…oh yeah! I remember now…You're like that one…chick." Peyton said not remembering much about Taylor. _Well…at least she's cu- no stop Sawyer! You don't need to be falling for someone else…and not Haley's older sister of all people…_

"Surprisingly…that's what a lot of guys tell me…" Taylor said making fun of herself. _That's great…she doesn't remember a thing about you…wait that is good…right?_

Peyton just quirked up an eyebrow, then Haley cut in.

"Ok too much information! Your little sister does not need to know that!" Haley said finding that bit of information a tad disturbing. "Hey Peyton did you happen to see Nathan?" Haley asked trying to change the subject.

"Um…no I don't think so. I think he left already."

"Oh…ok." Haley replied sadly. _Well I guess he doesn't want to talk after losing the game…_

Peyton upon seeing Haley's sad face racked her brain for something to say. _What to say what to say…oh offer her a ride this time! Yea… maybe we could talk now…and I could tell her I'm not all that mad anymore… _ "So Haley…do you need a ride back to your apartment?"

Haley thinking that maybe now Peyton will finally talk to her jumped at the chance of being able to. "Sure! If um…that's ok with you Taylor…" Haley replied to her sister sheepishly.

"Huh? Oh sure, I don't want to ride with you anyways…I've spent way too much time with you today." Taylor said. _Aww how come I don't get to ride with her? _

"Oh ouch…besides…your car smells funny so I would've walked anyways." Haley said.

Taylor tensed up when Haley mentioned this. _Oh shit…I hope she doesn't know what it is… _"Umm right…well I'll see you later Haley-bub. And it was nice seeing you again Peyton." Taylor said, waving to the other girls and walking away quickly.

"Ok then…well let's go, my car is on the side road over there." Peyton said directing her hand towards a road. As they were driving, the girls just sat in an awkward silence. Peyton not being able to take it anymore spoke up. "Look Haley, I know I've been a bitch to you lately but it just…happened. First there was the whole thing with Ellie and my dad, and then you leave. But then you were the one that actually came back and I just…I guess I let all of my feelings that were being pent up on you."

"I know Peyton, I didn't want to leave you and everybody else behind…I guess I just did without thinking…" Haley replied. _I knew she was going through some things but I didn't think it was that bad… _Haley then started to feel guilty for causing Peyton to break down.

"I know it's not your fault…it just all happened. I just want you to know that I'm sorry…I didn't mean to be such a bitch to you." Peyton said her voice wavering a bit.

"There's nothing to be sorry for Pey, you had every right to do so."

"But-" Before Peyton could say anything Haley cut her off.

"Look it's alright. I just want things to go back to how they were when we were all happy. All that matters now is that we're back to speaking to each other like before. So are we cool?"

"Yea…I guess…" _If only it were that simple…if only…_

Meanwhile back at the school, Lucas approached his locker to pick up a few things. He passed some of the other guys' lockers and saw that they were decorated. _Why do they even bother keeping up with that stupid tradition anyways? _When he opened his locker, he saw that it too had been decorated. There were pictures everywhere of him and Brooke together. The one that caught his attention was the one being suspended by some paper. It was the picture of them at the beach kissing. Lucas still angry at Brooke just sighed and slammed his locker shut. He then stormed out of the school, where Brooke was standing by the doorway. Without even looking at her, he just walked on and ran into Rachel.

"Hey Lucas, you want a ride?" She said.

Lucas glanced over at Brooke quickly then said, "Yea sure." And with that, they both walked away leaving Brooke standing by the door alone.

_H-He won't even talk to me… Now Rachel's going to screw him and it'll be all over for us… _Tears started to well up in Brooke's eyes as she headed to her car. Once she got in she just let everything out. Her world just came crashing down yet again.

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Ok before you all attack me in your reviews...I know I didn't have much of Brooke in here but I just couldn't figure out how to fit her in and stuff...but she will be back next chapter.

...I just realized something...the only thing I'm doing with this story is pretty much following the events on the show...but tweaking them juuuust a bit. Wow...that's some real creativity there...I totally fail at writing. Heh.

So review if you're feeling generous!


	5. Don't Pull a Michael Jackson

w00t! It's an update! Go me! First off, thanks to everyone who took the time to review! Second... so just a heads up to everyone, you've probably noticed by now that I tend to update everyday, well I don't think I'm updating tomorrow or Sunday because well...it's the weekend. I write in school when I'm supposed to be learning...so yea that's why there's an update everyday. But you never know, I _might_ update just because I said I wouldn't...

**So yea disclaimer still in effect.**

Onwards with the story!

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Ripple Effect

Brooke just sat in her car, sobbing and wallowing in her own self pity. _What more can I do? I can't apologize properly if he won't look at me let alone talk to me. _After a few moments of crying, Brooke finally calmed down. _Ok Davis, pull yourself together…there might be another chance, you just have to figure it out…just one more try… _And with that small glimmer of false hope, Brooke decided to drive to the docks to clear her head. Once Brooke arrived, it was getting pretty late. _Jeez I hope I don't get mugged…oh shut up, it's freakin' Tree Hill…yea Tree Hill…my home and Hell… _She got out of the car and stood by the water. Upon seeing her reflection, tears started welling up in her eyes again. _Look at yourself…you filthy whore. Lucas was the best thing you had going for you in life and you screwed it up by screwing around… No. He wasn't the best thing I had…there's more. Yea? Like what? …My clothes…Peyton…Haley. Yea… I have Haley…and that should be all I need. _Brooke smiled slightly at her reflection. Then one of her tears dropped into the water, causing a wave of rings. _But is it need…or want…_

Once Peyton had reached Haley's apartment complex, Haley's cell phone went off. "Hello?"

"Haley-bub!" Came Taylor's voice through the phone.

"Tay! What's up?" Haley replied.

"Hey umm…you think you can come pick me up? See I was driving around, hoping to get back to your place until I realized I didn't know where you lived…then umm…I sort of lost my car." Taylor said nervously. _Lost? Hah, more like-_ Before Taylor could finish thinking, Haley cut in.

"You lost your car? Ok, I know you're getting old and all but how do you misplace a car? This is almost as bad as you forgetting me at-" Haley was cut off before she could finish.

"Ok ok! I know, no need to bring that back up again." _Jeez, it wasn't my fault you were so small at the age of 8... _"So can you come pick me up or not? I mean I'm standing by a creepy gas station where God knows who could come and kidnap me."

"Um…don't you mean granny-nap?" Haley said grinning.

"Shut up…either way if I get abducted, you'll be sad…and you know it." Taylor said while rolling her eyes. _And besides…I can't get kidnapped before I can even get into Pey- whoa stop it Taylor! You could get kidnapped at any moment and you're thinking about getting into someone's pants? Focus! Must. Stay. Alive!_

"You know I would come and get you but…I sort of don't have a car." Haley replied sheepishly.

"Hey if you want I could pick her up." Peyton cut in upon over hearing their conversation.

Haley covered up the phone, "Oh Peyton would you really do that?" she asked relived.

"Yea of course." the blonde replied.

"Hey Tay, if you haven't been granny-napped yet, Peyton said she'll pick you up." Haley said into the phone.

"Well tell her to hurry her skinny ass up." Taylor replied. "It's dark and creepy and I'm getting hungry." _So…I get to spend some quality time with Blondie, huh. Might as well handcuff myself now._

Haley just smiled as she turned off her phone. "So you want me to come with?" Haley asked Peyton.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure I can do it myself, besides it's getting pretty late. And you should probably check on Brookie."

"Right…I hope she cheered up a bit." Haley said hoping Brooke didn't have another breakdown.

"Yea me too. Alright, so should I just go and pick Taylor up and bring her back here?"

"Yea sure, I doubt she'll have any other place to stay."

"Ok umm…did she happen to mention where she was?" Peyton asked. "If I'm going to pick her up I should probably know where she is…"

"Oh wow…I think she forgot that bit of information." Haley said reaching for her phone again, looking through the memory and finding Taylor's number. "Hey um Tay? …Where the heck are you?" Haley asked her sister.

"Oh haha oops. I'm uh…at that one gas station." Taylor replied on the other end.

"Ok…care to elaborate?" Haley asked rolling her eyes.

"You know…the one that's over that one hill…"

"Street names Taylor! We need street names!" Haley said exasperated.

"Umm…something over the hill boulevard?"

"Wait, did she say it was by a hill?" Peyton cut in.

"Yea."

"Oooh then I think I know where she is." Peyton said. "Ask her if she sees a place called 'Girls Who Like Girls Who Like Guys Who Like Girls' "

Haley quirked an eyebrow at Peyton which Peyton just shrugged to. "Ok then. Tay did you hear what Peyton just said?"

"Yea…umm…" Taylor said scanning around the area. "Oh yea! I see it! Yay! Civilization!" Taylor squealed when she saw a building with a sign in neon lights. _Neon lights? …Whoa! Is that a str-_ Before Taylor could confirm what she was thinking Haley cut in.

"Ok then, Peyton will be there in a bit." Haley said then she hung up her phone. As she got out of the car to go up to her apartment, she turned around to Peyton. "Thanks for doing this Peyt, you really don't have to you know. I could just like send out a cab for her."

"Nonsense, besides…this gives me an excuse to drive fast so she doesn't get kidnapped so it's all good." Peyton said smirking.

Haley just shook her head as she smiled. "Thanks again Peyton." Haley said as she poked her head through the driver's seat window to give Peyton a quick hug.

Peyton just tensed up and kept her arms at her side. "Y-Yea no problem. Ok I have to go now if you want to see your sister alive." She said as she turned her car on.

"Alright, come up when you bring Taylor back so we can all hang out." Haley said as she was backing away from the car.

"I might if it's not too late…" Peyton said as she drove away. _But it's already too late…you're in too deep now, there's no turning back…_

Haley turned around to walk up to her apartment. As she opened the door she called out into the empty apartment. "Brooke? Are you still awake?" She looked around the living room and the bedrooms. Empty. Just like the feeling she just got in the pit of her stomach. _Oh no oh no oh no, where did she go! Ok calm down…think this through…where would Brooke go at 10:45 at night? Food? No… they would be closed by now… _Haley then took her cell phone out to dial Brooke's number. There was no answer, voice mail. _No no no no no…why is her phone off? Where is she? _Haley then started to pace around the room. _What if it's that robber again! Shut up James, there wasn't a robber the first two times you thought there was one and it's pretty unlikely that a robber would come for Brooke this time. Why wouldn't they? I would… Ahh stop! Brooke's missing there's no time for that! Ok…when I left her she was sad…and when she's sad she…likes to go on a walk…ok…then where would she be? Walking walking…walking…The docks! She has to be there! _ And with that Haley rushed out of her apartment to run down to the docks.

As Peyton neared the edge of town where Taylor was supposed to be, she didn't see her anywhere, not even by the gas station. _Alrighty then… _Peyton then got out of her car to walk around and look for Taylor. She ended up in front of a building with the neon lights. _She so wouldn't be in there…would she? I mean she's Haley's sister…but they aren't very alike now are they… _Peyton just decided to walk in to see if Taylor was in there. There was loud music blaring and scantily clad women everywhere. _Scantily clad? More like naaaaked. _Peyton then spotted Taylor sitting at the bar surrounded by a few women. "Taylor!" Peyton yelled over the music.

Taylor looked around to where she heard her name to find Peyton. "Blondie! Over here!" Taylor beckoned Peyton over.

"Taylor we should probably go before the bouncers realize I'm under 18..." Peyton said while looking around to make sure the bouncers weren't nearby.

"Ooooh minor? That's hot." Said one of the women by Taylor.

"Oh and she's a cheerleader too!" Taylor told the woman.

"Ok let's go now Taylor, you seem a bit tipsy." Peyton said as she grabbed Taylor's arm and dragged her out of the strip club.

"Ooooh, Blondie likes it rough…and besides, I am so not drunk, I'm perfectly sober. This is how I always am."

"Well then…note to self, stay away from Taylor." Peyton said while rolling her eyes. Peyton took Taylor over to her car and opened the door for her to get in.

"Ooooh so classy, me likey." Taylor said stifling her laughter.

Peyton just sighed. "Well then let's get you home to baby sister."

Haley was running as fast as she could to get to the docks to make sure Brooke was ok. _Please oh mighty…whomever that makes these decisions…please let her be ok…_ As Haley got near the docks, she could see a form by the railing. She let out a sigh of relief. _Thank you thank you thank you. _Haley ran over to Brooke. "Hey…"

Brooke looked up from the water. "Hey yourself Tutor Girl." she said smiling. _Aww did she come looking for me…that's sooo cute!_

"Y-You weren't at the apartment so I freaked out and thought something happened then I thought of where you would be so the docks came to mind so I ran here to see if you were here and well it looks like you're here and ok I'm babbling now." Haley said in a rush as she started to blush.

_Oh wow…I've never seen her blush before…how adorable. _"How thoughtful of you to come and check up on me. But I'm a-ok so you can stop worrying." Brook said as she slung her arm around Haley's neck. This sent a jolt of electricity through both girls. _Whoa…weird. _"C'mon let's walk home together."

As the girls neared the apartment, they noticed the door was open. _Oh no oh no oh, ok this time, it's a real robber! Ok seriously James…what is with your fascination with thieves? It's not a fascination! Whatever, you left the door open when you ran out to find Brooke…remember? Oh…right. _"Heh…sorry, I sort of left the door open when I ran out looking for you."

"Eh, it's not like we have anything of value in there for someone to take." Brooke said shrugging. _Good thing you weren't in there if a thief were to come… _Once they got inside they both fell onto the couch. "Jeez, what time is it?"

"Umm…just a bit past 11. You should probably go to bed, you've had a long day." Haley said looking over at Brooke.

_If you only knew…_

Just then, someone came into the apartment. "Knock knock." came Taylor's voice as she walked in while being held up by Peyton.

Brooke looked at Taylor. "…Taylor?" she then looked over at Haley. "Is that Taylor? Your sister is back in town?"

"Oh yea… I sort of forgot to mention that…" Haley said wondering why Taylor was being held up by Peyton. "What's wrong with you?" Haley directed at Taylor.

"Oh you know…a little bit of this and that from living with you for all those years…" Taylor said grinning.

Haley just rolled her eyes as she looked over to Peyton for an explanation.

"Um…I think she's a bit drunk…juuust a bit…" Peyton said while trying to get Taylor on the couch. As Taylor fell on the couch, she brought Peyton with her and they fell on Haley.

"You guys want to get off? Oxygen is sort of becoming a problem now…" Haley grunted while trying to get out from under the pile.

"I will once Taylor releases her death grip on me." Peyton said while trying to get up. Once she got up she looked at her watch. "Oh wow, it's like 11:30, I should go now."

"Why don't you just stay? It's late out and with your driving skills, if you were to get into a crash nobody would know." Brooke said grinning.

"Ha ha." Peyton said while rolling her eyes.

"Seriously though, stay. It'll be like a slumber party!" Brooke replied.

"…Well alright, just as long as Taylor doesn't like attack me or anything in my sleep." Peyton said looking over at Taylor.

"I won't attack unless you want me to." Taylor said winking at Peyton.

"Oook, not something I want to know about." Haley said getting up. "So where are we going to sleep anyways? Out here?"

"Well my bed is off limits to everyone now after what happened…" Brooke said shuddering.

Peyton and Haley chuckled a little while Taylor just looked at everyone confused.

"You don't want to know." Peyton told her.

"Yea…wasn't going to ask." Taylor replied.

"Alright so let's just lay out a bunch of blankets on the floor here so we can go to sleep. I'm really really sleepy." Brooke said yawning. The girls all helped in setting up their sleeping area. The four pillows on the ground were all situated next to each other.

"Yay…sleepy time." Brooke said as she collapsed onto the pillow on the end.

Haley followed suit as she lay 2 pillows down from Brooke.

"I totally call the pillow on the end." Peyton said as she laid down.

"Haley-bub move down one next to Brooke, I want that huge pillow you're on." Taylor said as she stood over Haley.

"Nooo I claimed it first!" Haley whined.

"Pleeeease?" Taylor pouted at Haley.

"Fine." Haley said as she scooted over next to Brooke. _Ok Haley…you just need to control yourself and keep your hands off Brooke during the night…easy right?_

"Yay!" Taylor cried. _Oh would you look at that? I ended up next to Peyton… alrighty James…just don't grope her while you're sleeping and everything will be peachy._

And with that, the girls slowly drifted off to sleep, all of them trying to keep their hands to themselves.

_Just a few hours…how hard could it be?_

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Meh...I apologize if this chapter is all...bleh. I threw it together in like 20 minutes during math so yea...

Review if you feel like doing so!

Until next time people!


	6. Schemes, Scandals, and Secret Affairs

Oh I am so bad. I said I wouldn't update but lo' and behold, it's chapter 6. Mwahaha I hope that makes you all mad...yea... So thanks to all those who reviewed, you all rock! And um...to that one reviewer who wanted a grope fest...sorry...there isn't one. But I so would've put one in if I knew how to make it work...

**So...disclaimer still in effect...**

To the story!

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Ripple Effect

During the night, Brooke kept tossing and turning from a nightmare she was having. _No…no Lucas come back… _Brooke whimpered in her sleep. Tears were running down her cheeks and she didn't even know it. _Please…please come back… _Brooke turned again looking for something…or someone to cling to. She rolled over and hit Haley who was sleeping through all of Brooke's cries. She then grabbed onto Haley knowing subconsciously that if she were to let go, she'd never get back up.

Peyton was having some troubles as well a few pillows down. She laid there shivering dreaming that she was in a freezer. _Why is it so cold? Why the hell am I in a freezer? Oh my god is that a dead cow! _Little did she know, Taylor had stolen the covers sometime during the night. Peyton then turned towards the nearest thing, seeking warmth. She bumped into Taylor and cuddled into her feeding off of her body heat. _Yay…it's getting warmer…and I think that cow is coming back to life…_

As morning came and went, the girls continued to sleep. At around noon, Haley was the first to start waking up. She was awake but she didn't open her eyes. _Mmm…so comfy…_ She then buried her head into Brooke's neck without knowing it and fell back to sleep.

A pounding at the door startled the girls and woke them up. Peyton however was still sleeping. Brooke opened her eyes but still held onto Haley. "Make them go away…" She said then held onto Haley even tighter.

Haley still a little groggy from sleep tried to figure out what was going on. _Wait what? When did Brooke get so close to me? And why isn't she letting go…not that I mind of course… _

Brooke then realized that she was still cuddling with Haley immediately let go. The safe feeling she had disappeared. "Oh Haley I'm sorry I didn't mean to get into your personal space it's just that I was having a nightmare and well…" Brooke trailed off.

"No it's ok I understand." Haley told Brooke. "Besides I didn't really mind. It felt nice actually." Came out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. "I…uh…I mean I'm going to get the door." Haley said as she stood up to go to the door that someone was still pounding on.

Taylor just laid there watching Peyton sleep. Peyton's head was laying on her shoulder and her hand was getting dangerously close to her boob. _Ok…it won't be my fault if she touches me right? _ Taylor's breathing quickened as Peyton's hand moved up as she started waking up.

"Ughrafmb." Peyton mumbled into Taylor's shoulder. Peyton then sat up quickly when she realized she was cuddling into Taylor. _How the hell did that happen? _"I uh…you…you stole the blanket so I had to get warm somehow." Peyton said to an amused looking Taylor.

"Uh huh right. I know I'm hot and all but please keep the groping to a minimum." Taylor said grinning. _Damn…and she was soooo close too…_

Peyton just turned away as she felt her face getting warmer. The pounding at the door was still going on and Haley was halfway across the living room.

"Open this damn door, I know you're in there." Came an unfamiliar voice.

"Who is it?" Haley called out.

"Sebastian." The voice replied.

Taylor's eyes widened when she heard this. "Hold on Haley, I'll get it." She said as she ran past Haley to get the door. Taylor opened the door slightly so she can go outside and then she closed the door.

The only thing the girls inside the apartment could hear were muffled voices. They all looked at each other with confused looks.

"What the hell are you doing here? You got your car back so what else do you want?" Taylor spat out at Sebastian. Sebastian was an older man dressed in a 70's leisure suit.

"What else? I'm here for that money you owe me." He replied.

"I said I'll get it and I will. Just give me some time and don't come here again." Taylor said as she glared at him.

"You have a week. And if you don't cough up the dough by then…well…our next little chat won't be so civilized." Sebastian said as he walked away.

Taylor just leaned against the door and sighed. She closed her eyes for a minute to regain herself.

When the girls heard the talking stop outside, Peyton went and opened up the door causing Taylor to fall backwards. They both fell backwards onto the hard floor. "Ouch! Ok _now _who needs to keep the groping to a minimum…" Peyton said from under Taylor.

Haley ignoring that comment asked Taylor, "So what was that all about?"

"Nothing!" Taylor replied a little too quickly. "…It was nothing." She reassured her sister.

"Ok are you planning on getting off anytime soon?" Peyton asked, still under Taylor.

"Might as well get used to it now, I like it on top." Taylor said without thinking. _Sheeeet. _Then she got off Peyton and helped her up as well.

"Ok wow! More than I needed to know." Haley said trying to erase that image from her mind.

"Jeez, are you two having some sort of secret affair that we should be aware of?" Brooke asked from the couch.

"Maybe…you'll never know." Taylor said as she put her arm around Peyton.

"Pfft, you wish." Peyton said. "I wouldn't want to get into a relationship with you…you steal the blankets, and that's a big no-no."

"So…what you're saying is that if I let you have your precious blankets then we can tell them about our hot little affair we've been having?" Taylor said raising her eyebrows.

Peyton just rolled her eyes as she detached herself from Taylor. "Don't listen to her, she's probably still drunk."

"Ok I may have been a little bit tipsy last night but I'm totally sober now." Taylor said as she sat down on the couch.

Peyton just stuck her tongue out at her.

"Ok ladies enough with this…lovers' quarrel." Brooke interrupted. "It's Saturday…what should we do?"

"Oh my god, did you just seriously ask us what we want to do instead of just dragging us to the mall against our will?" Haley asked in mock surprise.

"I just wanted to give you a chance to suggest the library Tutor Girl." Brooke said as she flashed her dimples.

"Oh that really hurts Tigger…it hurt riiight here." Haley said as she put her hand over her chest.

"Aww should I kiss it to make it better?" Brooke asked getting closer to Haley.

Peyton and Taylor just raised their eyebrows. "_Now_ who's having the secret affair?" Peyton asked.

"Ok you caught us." Brooke said as she put her arm around Haley. "We've been secretly getting into each other's pants for a while now." Brooke said stifling her laughter. _If only that were true…_

"Ok that is way more than I needed to know about my little sister." Taylor said standing up from the couch. "So are we going anywhere or are we just going to sit here all day?"

"How about we go get something to eat first then we'll figure out what to do from there." Peyton said.

"Alright then…where though?" Taylor asked.

"How about Karen's?" Haley suggested.

"Um…can we go somewhere else?" Brooke asked. _If they're as close as they seem then she probably knows by now…_

Haley realizing why Brooke wouldn't want to go to the café scolded herself for bringing it up. _Smooth move James. _"Yea of course we can. We can go anywhere you want Tigger."

The girls all took their time to get ready, and nearly an hour later, they left the apartment.

"So…should we all just go in one car?" Haley asked.

"Oh oh I'm totally driving!" Peyton squealed.

"Well…it's light out so sure why not." Brooke replied.

The girls all got into Peyton's car, with Peyton driving and Taylor in the front with her. As she started it up, she asked the others, "So where are we eating now?"

"Can we go to that one deli/bakery near the mall?" Brooke asked from the backseat.

"Yep yep yep." Peyton said as she started driving.

"Sheesh…you're a hyper one aren't you?" Taylor asked Peyton.

"She only like this when she's near a vehicle." Brooke said.

"Yea…that could be bad or good." Haley added.

"…S-Should I have my seatbelt on?" Taylor asked slightly worried for her safety. _ So she's blonde, a cheerleader, likes it rough, and drives fast and/or recklessly. What a great combination…_

"Yes!" Said both of the girls in the back.

"Hey! I am a great driver. We're still alive aren't we?" Peyton told the girls.

"Pfft. Pure luck." Brooke replied grinning.

After a few more minutes of small talk, they arrived at the deli. Since it was just past noon, it was pretty crowded.

"Hey um we need a table for four." Haley told the lady at the front.

"Ok that'll be about a 45 minute wait." She told the girls.

"What!" Came three responses.

"Forget this, let's just go somewhere else." Peyton said.

"Yea, I'm hungry and if I have to wait 45 minutes then one of you aren't going home alive." Taylor said.

The rest of the girls just looked at her. "Ok…that aside, where should we go now?" Haley asked them as they got back into the car.

"Let's just go to Karen's since it's right there." Brooke said pointing towards Karen's Café across the street.

"Are you sure?" Haley and Peyton asked her.

"Yea I'll be fine guys." Brooke said. _Hopefully…_

Peyton pulled her car into the parking area by Karen's Café. As the girls got out of the car, Haley grabbed Brooke's hand sending a wave of euphoria through both girls. "You sure you'll be ok?" Haley asked Brooke worried for her.

Brooke just smiled. "Yes I'll be fine Tutor Girl. But just in case." She tightened her grip on Haley's hand. _As long as I've got you, everything is always ok._

The girls walked into a moderately full café. "Well…at least there won't be a waiting list." Peyton observed. They all seated themselves at an empty booth looking through some menus.

Karen walked over to their booth to take their orders and then realized Taylor was with them. "Taylor? Taylor James? Is that you?" Karen asked surprised.

"Karen!" Taylor said as she jumped over Peyton to get out of the booth and hugged Karen. "How are you?"

"I'm great, how are you?" Karen asked as she returned Taylor's hug.

"Just peachy." Taylor replied like a child.

"So what are you doing back?"

"Oh ya know…I'm treating myself to a vacation and decided to swing by good ol' Tree Hill." Taylor said. _Why do they all ask me that? Is it really hard to believe that I just came back for an innocent visit? Well…yes…yes it is…_

"You're on vacation and you come to Tree Hill? What is wrong with you?" Haley asked her sister.

"Ah we already covered this last night little sis." Taylor said.

Haley just rolled her eyes and went back to looking at her menu.

"So girls do you know what you want?" Karen asked them.

"I shall have…the hot dog with curly fries and a vanilla milkshake." Peyton told Karen.

"Umm…I'll have the same I guess but with a strawberry milkshake." Haley said.

"Well then make that three but I'll have the vanilla milkshake like Peyton." Brooke said quietly.

"I'll take the triple deluxe cheeseburger with French fries, some tater tots, a Coke and umm… the strawberry shortcake." Taylor said reading from the menu.

The rest of the girls just stared at Taylor.

"What? This is how I always eat." She said looking at them.

"And yet you're still that skinny? How is that even possible?" Peyton asked.

Taylor just shrugged. "High metabolism I guess."

"Oooh metabolism, that's a pretty big word Tay." Haley said.

"Bite me Hales." Taylor told her sister as she rolled her eyes.

"I would but I don't want Peyton getting jealous." Haley said quirking her eyebrow at Peyton.

"Ok…there is nothing going on between us!" Peyton exclaimed. "What about you two? You seem to be getting pretty friendly." She asked looking at them.

"There's nothing between us either!" Haley said. _Although I wish there was._

Brooke just scoffed. "Are you ashamed of me Hales? If you are then I am totally out of this relationship." She said laughing.

"I swear you all are like the same person." Haley said rolling her eyes.

"Aww I'm sorry babe, here how about a hug?" Brooke said getting closer to Haley. _Well, at least now I can hug her without it seeming suspicious._

"Whooo! Get a room you two!" Taylor wooted.

"Oh you guys totally know you want to watch." Brooke said pulling back from Haley.

"Yea we'd totally pay to see you two going at it." Peyton said rolling her eyes.

"Yea…that's a bit disturbing there Peyt…" Haley said.

After a few more minutes of the girls just teasing each other, Karen brought their food. They ate while initiating some small talk and Taylor trying to steal someone's fries every now and then.

"Ok I saw that!" Peyton told Taylor. "You just had fries, leave mine alone!"

"But I'm still hungry." Taylor whined.

"You have a strawberry shortcake that's still coming." Haley reminded her.

"Oh…right. But it's taking too long. Can I have just one more Peyton? Pleeeeease?" Taylor pouted.

"Fine just stop looking at me like that." Peyton said looking away. _That is just way too adorable…wait what?_

"Yay!" Taylor squeaked and took a couple fries without Peyton noticing. "You know you can't resist that pout."

"Yea…right." Peyton said counting her fries. "Hey! You took more than one."

"Want them back?" Taylor said sticking out her tongue to reveal the chewed up contents.

"Gross." Peyton said scrunching up her face.

The girls finished eating, paid, and left. "Alrighty then, now where are we going to go?" Peyton asked them as they got into the car.

"Actually Peyton, can you drop me off at Lucas'?" Brooke asked. _I have to get him to listen to me sooner or later, might as well do it now…_

"Umm…sure." Peyton said looking over at Haley.

"You really want to do this now?" Haley asked her.

Brooke just nodded.

"So…what are you guys talking about now?" Taylor asked them.

"It's a long story." Haley told her.

As Peyton pulled up to Lucas' house, Haley turned to Brooke. "Do you want me to come with?" She asked.

"No…I have to do this alone, but thanks anyways." Brooke said as she got out of the car. "I'll meet you guys back at the apartment." She told them and walked up to the door.

After seeing Brooke walk away, Peyton drove away. _You better not do anything you'll regret later Luke…_

Brooke sighed as she stood in front of Lucas' door. She put her hand up to knock, but stopped before it came into contact with the door. _Well…it's now or never._

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So I apologize if this chapter wasn't up to standards... I wrote this _really_ early...at like 11:00 in the morning... so yea I was pretty out of it when I sat down at the computer.

Oh and there won't be another chapter till Monday, because Sundays are 'me' time...so yea...

Review if you're not too lazy!


	7. Dominatrixes Have All the Fun

Ok ok I know I said I wouldn't update today but it was really cold so I couldn't go anywhere so I just stayed at home...and wrote this. So this chapter pretty much marks the end of me following the events on the show...so now I have to get creative...

Jeez, these chapters keep getting harder and harder to write. It used to take me like half an hour to whip something up but now it takes nearly 3 hours...sheesh... So thanks again to everyone who's reviewing.

Oh! I just noticed something... Nathan hasn't even made an appearance yet in the story...yea...I just realized that...so um yea...sorry to everyone who is a Nathan fan. I might squeeze him in somehow..._might_...

**So...disclaimer is still in effect...**

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Ripple Effect

Brooke took a deep breath and prepared to knock on Lucas' door. _Wait… if I knock then there's a good chance he won't open it because he's brooding… _So Brooke just let out the breath she had been holding and turned the knob, hoping it was unlocked. The door opened and there was Lucas, sitting at his desk.

Lucas turned around upon hearing the door open. _Well…she was going to come sooner or later…by why the hell not later?_

"Hey um, can we talk?" Brooke asked stepping inside but keeping the door open.

"What's there to talk about?" Lucas said coldly. "You screwed somebody, broke my heart, we break up, life goes on. Pretty simple really, not much talking needed either." He said without looking at Brooke.

Brooke's face sunk even more after hearing this. "Look, I'm really sorry ok? What else am I supposed to say to make things better?"

"Nothing." He said looking directly at Brooke this time.

"You of all people should know how I'm feeling right now and how much I regret doing what I did especially since you cheated on me with Peyton before." Brooke said her voice wavering as tears threatened to spill.

"Yea but I didn't sleep with her."

"You slept with Nikki." Brooke reminded him.

"But that was when I didn't love you." And with that Lucas turned around again so that Brooke was out of his line of vision.

"It always has to be on your terms doesn't it?" Brooke scoffed. "You didn't love me then so when you had your dick inside Nikki it wasn't your fault. But now when you do love me, it's all my fault. You are unbelievable you bastard." Brooke spat as she left the house and slammed the door.

Lucas just sighed as he walked into the other room where Rachel was sitting in. "Wait long?" Rachel just shrugged.

Brooke leaned against the door as she cried softly. _Ok…he deserved that…I didn't do anything wrong. He should've already known how sorry I am, he should've known how I get when I'm drunk…he should know… Well get over it Davis, he didn't know, he never did…he didn't know you… _Brooke took a few more moments to pull herself together before she started walking home. _But she knows me…_

Once Peyton had dropped off Taylor and Haley at Haley's apartment, Peyton went back home. She sat on her bed drawing and listening to her music. After scrawling out a few sketches her mind began to wander, but she kept drawing. Soon without knowing it she had drawn a sketch of a familiar face. Peyton just sighed as she put her things away and decided to take a nap. _Jeez…falling for the whole family now are we? _She thought to herself before she fell asleep.

Peyton dreamed she was in her room, just sitting there. She looked over at her desk and saw herself…dressed as the angel of death. "I must be going mad…" Peyton said in her dream.

"_Are you really? Because if you are then so am I." _Her other self replied.

"What do you want?" Peyton asked the other girl.

"_Well since you're going crazy, I'm here to make things worse, where is it?"_

"Where's what?" Peyton asked her confused.

"_You know what, where is the bracelet?"_

Peyton took a sharp intake of breath when the other her mentioned a bracelet. "…Bracelet?"

"_Don't act stupid because then that makes me stupid. Where is the bracelet Peyton?" _The other girl asked again.

"I-I don't know." Peyton replied as she woke up. _…What the hell was that?_ Peyton wondered as she sat in bed looking around to make sure she was fully awake.Her other self was nowhere to be seen and Peyton let out a sigh of relief. _Why was she asking for the bracelet… _

Back at Haley's apartment, Taylor was getting bored. "Jeez, I forgot how lame this town was…" Taylor said flipping through the channels on the TV.

Haley rolled her eyes at her sister. "Then why don't you go visit your old friends?"

Taylor just shrugged. "I don't remember where they live."

"Again…you are getting oooold." Haley said grinning.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a nap." Taylor said standing up.

"What are you reverting back to a five-year old? It's like 2:30." Haley said looking at the clock in the kitchen.

"No…I just didn't get much sleep last night." Taylor said. _ …And I blame Peyton…or my urges whichever works… _"So which bed is yours?" Taylor called from the bedroom.

"The one that doesn't have 'My Little Pony' blankets." Haley replied from the living room. _Speaking of which…I hope Brooke's doing ok… _Now that Taylor was napping, Haley was left by herself with nothing to do. After another 5 minutes of finding nothing to watch on TV, Haley decided to take a shower. Before Haley left the living room, she remembered something. She went over to the door and locked it. _Hah! Take that you stupid robbers…._

Brooke walked up to her apartment and tried opening the door. _Why is it locked? We never lock it… _ Brooke looked around in her purse for her keys. Once she found them she unlocked the door. The living room was empty but she could hear the shower on in the bathroom. _That must be Taylor in the shower…then where's Haley? _Brooke just sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. Not really paying attention to the screen, Brooke's mind just kept going back to what happened earlier. _Should I really have blown up like that… _Brooke pulled her legs up on the couch and hugged them. To a bystander, she would've looked like a child who was just scolded at.

Haley was in the shower humming to herself. Rinse scrub lather hum, rinse scrub lather hum. She got out and wrapped a towel around herself and got out of the bathroom to get some clothes. A figure on the couch caught her attention. "Brooke?" Haley asked.

Brooke looked up to see a dripping wet Haley in a towel. _Damn… _Brooke thought to herself.

Haley saw the depressed look on Brooke's face and walked over to her. "Didn't go so well huh?" She asked as she sat down next to Brooke.

"It could've gone better." Brooke said as she shrugged. _Does she realize she's pretty much naked? Well…let's hope she doesn't… _

"What'd he do?" Haley asked.

"He was being a jackass and a hypocrite, that's what he did. I guess it's really over between us now…" Brooke said as she laid her head on Haley's shoulder, which caused the other girl to shudder a little.

"I'm sorry Tigger." Haley consoled her. "But don't worry, you've still got me." _ You'll always have me…_

"Thanks Tutor Girl." Brooke said as she looked up at Haley. She froze when their eyes locked.

Haley's breathing quickened as they both slowly started to lean in unconsciously. _Pull back now Haley unless you want to ruin the best thing you have, freakin' pull back now! _

"Aha! I knew it! You two totally have something going on. You're practically making out." Taylor said walking in on them.

Both girls pulled back and blushed. "We weren't doing anything." Brooke told Taylor. _Damn you Taylor…_

"Right, and I'm a natural brunette." Taylor mocked.

"…You're not a brunette?" Haley asked.

Taylor shrugged. "I don't know."

"…Wait what? Now you're just confusing us." Brooke said.

"Looks like you're already confused enough." Taylor told them. _Haha so it turns out that baby sister is going all Ellen Degeneres on us…Brooke too. This should be amusing…_

The two younger girls just stared at Taylor. "Confused how?" Brooke asked.

Taylor just smirked. "Oh never mind…you'll figure it out…hopefully." _Man…they would make such a cute couple…Oh my god! I should play matchmaker!_ Taylor's smirk just kept getting wider.

"Oh no…she has that crazy look…" Haley whispered to Brooke.

"…Doesn't she always look like that?" Brooke replied and laughed, causing Haley to laugh as well.

"Hey! No gossiping about me." Taylor said noticing that they were whispering and laughing.

"It's not gossip if it's true!" Brooke replied, causing Haley to laugh even harder.

"Whatever, anyways, now that I'm up from my nap, what should we do now? It's still pretty early…" Taylor said trying to change the subject. The girls tried to think of what they wanted to do.

"Oh! We can go shopping!" Brooke exclaimed as she stood up from the couch.

"Brooke…you don't have a job…how are you going to pay for the stuff you buy?" Haley asked.

"Oh…right…" Brooke said as she sat back down to think about it. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on the bag of clothes she stole back from Suburban Filth. "I've got it! I am such a genius." She said.

Haley just looked at her with an apprehensive look. "…Go on"

"My clothes! I can make more, make my own label, and sell it!" Brooke said excitedly.

"Hmm…that's actually not a bad idea." Haley said. "We can even make a website to sell it since you pretty much can't pitch them to another store…" She said thinking back to when Brooke and Peyton stole the clothes because they were ripping Brooke off.

"You make clothes?" Taylor asked.

"Of course! With my sense of style it would be a shame if I didn't." Brooke replied. "Oh my god you guys this is ingenious! Ooh oh oh oh I should start now!" Brooke said running into her room to grab some fabrics. "Hmm…ok Haley, you go make the site, and you Taylor, I need you to go to Peyton's and get some of her freaky art stuff." Brooke told the girls.

Taylor quirked her eyebrow at Brooke. "Freaky art stuff?"

"Yea she draws these freaky looking pictures but they're really good." Brooke told her.

"Ok now go! We don't have much time! The sooner we sell them, the sooner I can go shopping again." Brooke said as she shooed Taylor out of the apartment.

"Wait! I don't know where she lives." Taylor said to Brooke "…and I don't have a car."

Brooke ran into her room to grab her keys. When she found them she threw them at Taylor. "It's the silver Bug out there, and Peyton lives like a few blocks from here." Brooke said.

"Ok…a few blocks…but where!" Taylor said.

"Remember that one tree we used to hang out at as kids?" Haley asked Taylor.

"Umm…yea." Taylor said, not knowing where this was going.

"Peyton lives in the white-ish house by there. In fact…that tree is on her lawn." Haley said.

"Oh…well then that makes it easier."

"Ok now leave!" Brooke pushed Taylor out of the apartment and closed the door.

"Rude much?" Taylor yelled so that they could hear her. She walked over to Brooke's car and got in. She turned the ignition and headed for Peyton's house.

"Ok…now you…go get your laptop and make me that website!" Brooke said to Haley.

"Wow…so demanding." Haley said amused. _Well, at least she's found something she's good at. _"But before I go and make you that website since you asked so nicely, how about I go and put on some clothes first." Haley said standing.

"Fine fine, do what you want." _Although it might be better for the both of us if you stayed in that towel…_

Taylor arrived at Peyton's house and walked up to the door. Since she didn't exactly know her that well, she decided on knocking instead of just walking in. When she knocked, there was no answer from inside the house. After a few more tries, Taylor just decided to walk in. "Anybody home? Your door is unlocked." Taylor called out into the house. She saw some stairs and walked up, thinking that Peyton's room would most likely be up there. When Taylor found Peyton's room, she walked in seeing Peyton asleep. Taylor then got an idea. She went over to Peyton and unbuttoned her shirt a little. Then she took off her own shirt so that she was in a tank top and took off her pants. She got into Peyton's bed and snuggled up next to Peyton.

Peyton felt her bed move and woke up a bit. She felt someone next to her with their hand on her stomach. _What? I didn't sleep with anyone…did I? _Peyton opened her eyes to see who was next to her. _Taylor? _Peyton was still groggy so she didn't notice that Taylor wasn't donning very much clothing, and she didn't notice that her own blouse was unbuttoned. After a few moments, everything registered through her head and she sat up quickly. _What happened? Why is my shirt almost off? Why is Taylor here! _ Peyton began panicking. "What the hell happened!" She said aloud.

Taylor felt Peyton sat up and she fought to hold her laughter in. She couldn't take it anymore so she burst out laughing. "Oh my god, you should've seen the look on your face, priceless. Man I should've brought a camera or something.

Peyton just looked at Taylor. "You've got to be kidding me. That was such a dirty trick." She said as she started buttoning her blouse.

"No it wasn't, it could've been worse. I could've taken off all my clothes." Taylor said getting up to put her pants and shirt back on.

Peyton just froze. _Oh god…what if she did take all her clothes off… _"What are you doing here anyways?"

"To hang with you of course."

Peyton just looked at her skeptically.

"Ok fine you caught me. You're not cool enough for me to hang out with anyways. Brooke asked…no wait more like commanded me to come here to get some of your freaky artwork". Taylor said.

"And she wants them why?" Peyton asked as she went over to her desk to look for some drawings that Brooke could have.

"Her clothes, she's planning on making some and then selling it on a website."

"Oh, haha." Peyton said remembering what happened the last time she tried selling them. Peyton handed Taylor some drawings that Brooke could put on her clothes. "Now…out!"

"…Those are the exact words Brooke used earlier." Taylor pointed out. "And aren't you going to come over?"

Peyton shrugged.

"C'mon, I need someone to talk to since Brooke is being a psycho…and she might make me model some of her clothes…you know you want to see that." Taylor said.

"Fine." Peyton sighed.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist my hot body." Taylor said smirking.

Peyton just rolled her eyes. "Don't count on it granny, your boobs look like they're sagging."

Taylor swatted Peyton on the arm as she was laughing. "At least I have boobs."

Peyton gasped. "Take that back!"

Taylor just stuck her tongue out as she ran out of Peyton's room.

Peyton grabbed her coat and followed her. "Am I riding with you or am I supposed to take my own car?"

"Just ride with me so there's no hassle and like…so we don't kill the environment… yea…"

"You tree hugger." Peyton said as she got into Brooke's car.

Taylor just rolled her eyes as she drove them to Haley's apartment.

Back at the apartment, Brooke was frantically making more clothes, as Haley made them a website. "What's taking Taylor so long?"

Haley grinned. "10 bucks says she got lost."

Brooke raised her eyebrow at Haley, "Bring it on." And they both shook hands sealing the bet. After a few moments of silence, Brooke squealed. "I know the perfect name for the clothes!"

"…And that would be…" Haley said urging Brooke to continue.

"Clothes over bros!" Brooke exclaimed.

At that moment, Taylor and Peyton walked in.

"What took you?" Brooke said to Taylor and Peyton.

"Oh you know, Peyton and I decided to have an afternoon fu-" Taylor said as she was cut off by Peyton covering her mouth.

"She got lost…yes…since she hasn't been to Tree Hill in a while and all…" Peyton cut in glaring at Taylor.

Haley looked over at Brooke and grinned. "Pay up!"

Brooke took out the money from her purse and handed it to Haley. "You suck."

"But not for free…wait…that didn't come out right…" Haley said thinking over what she just said.

The rest of the girls just looked at Haley. "Tutor Girl! Naughty naughty." Brooke said as she wagged her finger at her.

"Shut up!" Haley whined. "It came out a different way than I wanted it to…"

"Right…" Brooke said. "Taylor did you bring me those drawings?"

"Yes master." Taylor said as she bowed and held up the drawings.

"See…why can't the rest of you be like Taylor here?" Brooke said snatching the drawings. She looked through them finding something she could use. She choose one of three people aiming at a heart with guns. She went to go get some scissors.

"Where are you going? What are you doing to my precious art!" Peyton asked following her."

"Don't worry, I'm just cutting out something from one of them." Brooke reassured her.

"It better be only one." Peyton said as she walked back out to the living room and sat down on the couch.

Taylor and Peyton lounged around the apartment, as Haley worked on the site and Brooke finished up her clothes.

"Done!" Brooke said a few hours later.

"Finally." Taylor said. "I was ready to kill myself because I was getting so damn bored."

"Well you didn't…so now your reward is getting to be one of my models." Brooke said to Taylor.

Taylor looked over at Peyton and raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Peyton threw a pillow at her. "Shut up."

"But I didn't say anything." Taylor said grinning.

Peyton rolled her eyes. The other two girls watched them with confused looks on their faces. "It's a long story." Peyton told Haley and Brooke.

"Ok whatever, now I just need a few more models…" Brooke said looking at Peyton and Haley.

"No freakin' way."

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Ok...firstly I'd like to apologize to the Lucas fans...I know I made him an ass but that's just because I dislike him... so yea... Second... the rate at which I update may be in 2-3 day intervals now because I am seriously running out of ideas so I'm going to take my time... 

Third, ok so I'm on like the 7th chapter and the girls haven't even hooked up yet and I apologize for that. It's just that in other stories, people usually hook them up in like the second chapter and I hate that, it's all rushed and stuff and it doesn't even show how they get together...so yea I'm taking my time on getting them together, sorry if it's taking so long. And fourth...there is no fourth, there's never a fourth...ok I'm done now.

Soooo...review if you want to!


	8. I Totally Want You, In the Pants

w00t go me! I updated! So um yea...don't really have much to say...other than thanks to all the reviewers!

Oh and like oh emm gee, it's been a week since I've started this...so yea it feels like a little mini anniversary...what? I'm not weird...

**Disclaimer still in effect fools.**

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Ripple Effect

"No! There is no way I'm letting you dress me up like some Barbie doll." Peyton said backing away from Brooke. _Oh no oh no, she has that crazy look in her eyes…_

"Yea… I'm with her." Haley said siding with Peyton. "Besides, why can't you model them? I mean they're your clothes after all."

"Rule one of the fashion industry, you don't wear your own clothes. I mean c'mon, that would be uber tacky." Brooke replied. "So pleeeeease you guys? I mean I never ask you guys for anything." Brooke pouted.

"You ask us for everything!" Peyton exclaimed. "And don't even try that pout, it doesn't work with me, I'm immune."

_But that doesn't mean I am… _Haley thought to herself. _Must…resist… _Haley looked away from Brooke for fear of caving in to her. _But could it really be that bad? I mean it's not like there'll be anybody else to see…right?_

Brooke jutted her bottom lip out further. "Pretty pretty please? You'll have no idea how much this'll mean to me…like seriously, if this works then my whole life could freakin' change! I won't be Broke Davis anymore, I'll be Brooke Davis, fashion extraordinaire!" Brooke said striking a pose.

The other girls just looked at her with amused looks.

Brooke rolled her eyes. _Damnit! At this rate I won't be able to persuade them both in time…alright then on to Plan B… _"Oooooh Taylor!" Brooke called out in a sing song voice.

Taylor raised an eyebrow at Brooke. "Yes'm?"

"Come here for a sec would ya?" Brooke beckoned.

Taylor walked over to Brooke and she grabbed her and took her to the kitchen. "Ah jeez my arm Brooke! It's fragile, I'm getting old remember?"

"Oh quit your complaining." Brooke replied then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Ok since Peyton and Haley are being stubborn, I'm not going to be able to win them over with my charms at once, so I need you to take care of Peyton while I deal with Haley, comprende?"

"Peyton? Done and done." Taylor replied. _Heh…this should be fun…_

Peyton and Haley wondered what they were talking about.

"Psst, do you think they're conspiring against us?" Haley asked Peyton.

"Knowing them, I wouldn't doubt it." Peyton said worriedly. _Oh god…those two are bad enough on their own but now they're teaming up?_

At that moment, Brooke and Taylor ceased their whispering and looked over at the other two with evil grins.

Peyton and Haley both twitched a little upon seeing their grins. _Have mercy…whatever the hell you guys are planning…_

"Haley!" Brooke yelled out.

Haley jumped a little when she heard her name. "…Y-Yes?"

"You, me, bedroom, now!" Brooke commanded as she headed towards the bedroom.

Haley's eyes widened when she heard this. "W-What!" _She's not thinking what I'm thinking she's thinking right? Right! _

"Now Tutor Girl! Move it move it move it, we haven't much time. We need to…talk." Brooke replied as she waited impatiently for Haley to follow her.

"Ok…" Haley said hesitantly as she made her way to Brooke. _Oh…she just wanted to talk… Wait…should I be glad or disappointed? Glad that she's not planning on having her wicked way with me or disappointed that she's…not? Wait what? _

Brooke pulled Haley inside the room and slammed the door shut.

"O…k?" Peyton said as she watched her two friends disappear into the room.

"I guess that just leaves you and me Blondie." Taylor said smirking.

"What a shame." Peyton mocked.

"Oh ouch…my pride." Taylor said as she sat down on the couch, patting the spot next to her motioning for Peyton to sit as well.

Peyton looked at Taylor weird but sat down anyways. "Soo…" Peyton dragged out.

"So why are you refusing to model Brooke's clothes? Is it because of me? It's totally me isn't it? Damn…now these gorgeous looks are starting to affect people negatively…" Taylor said as she scooted closer to Peyton.

"Umm…no? I just refuse to let her play with me like a doll." Peyton saw Taylor scooting closer and started to get nervous. _What the hell is she trying to pull?_

"But you'd let me play with you…right?" Taylor said leaning in closer to Peyton, just close enough so that she could feel her breathing on her.

Peyton's breathing sped up as Taylor leaned in. Her brain refused to let her think so she couldn't form a coherent sentence. "I- uh, you…what?" Peyton stammered out.

"We could play all…night…long." Taylor said into Peyton's ear making sure she felt her breath tickle her.

Peyton stood up quickly getting away from Taylor. "Getting into my personal bubble there Tay." Peyton said trying to control her breathing. _Ok…calm down…it's not like she's serious right? I mean she probably doesn't even swing that way…_

Taylor burst into laughter. "Oh my god, that's twice in one day that I've gotten you! Damn, I really need to invest in a camera." Taylor said in between laughs. "But seriously though…model with me, it'll be fun."

Peyton let out a sigh. _Good…she was just joking around…again…wait why am I disappointed_ _then? _"Alright fine, just stop whatever the hell you've been doing." _Because I don't think my hormones will be in check next time…_

"Oh you know you love it." Taylor said winking. "You totally want to get in my pants."

Peyton just rolled her eyes. _More than you'll ever know…_

Meanwhile in the bedroom, a million ideas went through Brooke's head on how to persuade Haley. "Alright Tutor Girl, now why won't you model my clothes for me?"

"Because… you know how I am with the whole doing stuff in front of people be it singing presenting or even modeling." Haley explained. _Especially not modeling…_

"And why is that so? I mean c'mon let's look at it logically. Singing, you have an amazing voice and you proved that by putting on a few concerts and winning over the hearts of lovesick fools everywhere!" _Not to mention the one right in front of you…ahh! Stop it stop it stop it Brooke…now is not the time. It's never the time! _ "Second, presenting, you've done a million of them in school and you've aced them every single time. _Hah, two for two._

"But that doesn't mean I wasn't nervous." Haley cut in.

"So what? You got through it anyways. Now stop interrupting." Brooke said in a mock command voice.

Haley faked gasped. "How rude!"

"No no no, what did I say about interrupting? And you're the rude one for interrupting, anyways back on topic. And third, why would you not want to model and show off that gorgeous body?"

_Gorgeous? Did she really just say that? _Haley blushed slightly and turned away from Brooke. "Um…t-thanks Tigger…" Haley spluttered out.

Brooke satisfied at the blush she got out of Haley grinned. "Ok, now that we've established that you're hot, why the hell aren't you going to model for me!"

"B-Because!"

_Why…are…you…so…stubborn! Ok…new plan… _Brooke took a deep breath. "Do you really hate me that much?" Brooke said her voice wavering a little.

"What?" Haley said turning back to Brooke.

"I mean we had a pretty rough past but I thought that was behind us. I really thought we were getting to be good friends…but now when I ask you one teensy little favor you shoot me down…why Haley? Why!" Brooke choked out as tears formed in her eyes. Brooke buried her head into her hands.

"No no Brooke, it's not that I hate you. I just don't do that kind of thing…" Haley said as she tried to console Brooke by patting her back. _In fact…I don't think I could ever hate you…_

"Then do it for me! Just do this one thing for me Hales…" Brooke said not lifting her head from her hands.

"Ok ok Brooke, just please stop crying." Haley said trying to get Brooke to look at her.

"Yes!" Brooke exclaimed as she jumped up from her position. "Now c'mon, let's get you dressed up." Brooke said as she looked for something that would suit Haley.

Haley gasped. "You evil person! You just faked all that didn't you?"

"Yep." Brooke winked at Haley.

"What! Then I am so not doing this." Haley said as she started to walk out of the room.

"Nuh uh missy, you already said you would and Tutor Girl isn't one to back out on her word." Brooke said as she dragged Haley away from the door. She found a dress she had made and tossed it at Haley. "Now get your cute ass in that closet and put this on." Brooke ordered.

Haley sighed. "You are so going to owe me for this." Haley said as she walked towards the closet.

"I know. And I'll make it up to you…in bed tonight."

Haley froze.

Brooke started laughing. "Jeez kidding! Lighten up a bit will ya?"

Haley rolled her even though Brooke couldn't see it. She went into the closet to put the dress on. When she came back out she felt a little self conscious. "…So?"

Haley was wearing the red casual dress that she had designed which seemed to fit to Haley's every contour perfectly. Brooke couldn't help but stare. _How the hell has she been hiding that body all this time…_

"Umm…Brooke?" Haley asked worried that her friend wasn't responding.

Brooke snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh what?"

"You sort of zoned out on me there…so what do you think?" Haley asked as she twirled around.

Brooke felt her knees buckle and she collapsed.

"Brooke!" Haley ran over to the other girl. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I-I'm fine, just felt a little dizzy…" Brooke said regaining herself. _Pull yourself together Davis! It's not like you haven't seen her in a dress before… well I haven't…not like this… _Brooke noticed one of the straps on Haley's dress start slipping. "Come here, the dress is getting messed up." Brooke motioned for Haley to bend down towards her.

Haley complied and bent closer to Brooke.

Brooke reached up and fixed the dress. By now both girls were very close. Brooke felt her heart pounding. She could feel herself leaning in closer, with the need to be against Haley.

_What is she doing? Why is she leaning in! _Haley's breathing quickened as she felt her eyes close.

"What the hell is taking so long in there!" Someone called from the other side of the door as they pounded on it.

Both girls pulled back at the sound of Taylor's voice. Brooke cleared her throat. "We're just about done." Brooke called back out to Taylor.

"You better be." Taylor muttered.

Brooke stood up and smiled weakly at Haley. "C'mon, your sister is getting cranky. We wouldn't want that now would we?"

Haley just nodded as she followed Brooke back out into the living room. _What the hell Taylor? That's two now… _The girls walked out to see an annoyed looking Peyton and a fidgety Taylor.

"Sheesh, took you long enough." Taylor said from the couch.

"Quiet you or else I won't let you model." Brooke said.

"Pfft, you can't afford to lose me, I'm one of your best!" Taylor imitated a real model.

_Actually…Haley is… _Brooke thought to herself… "Ok so we need to get you two dressed up and then we'll just wait for our audience to arrive."

"…Audience?" Peyton asked.

"Oh it's nothing big, I just invited a few girls from the squad over to check out the clothes…" Brooke replied.

"You what!" Haley asked in surprise.

"Well why else did you think I asked you guys to model? For me?" Brooke said indifferently. _…That isn't a bad idea actually…hmm…a private fashion show from Haley…_

"Ok let's just get this over with." Peyton said just wanting to go home. "What do you want me and Tay to wear?"

Brooke thought for a moment then ran back into the room. "I've got just the thing, it'll be perfect!" She came back out holding a few articles of clothing which she threw at Peyton and Taylor. "Ok now go in there and put those on." Brooke directed.

"…Together?" Taylor asked quirking an eyebrow at Peyton.

"Together, separately, I don't really care, just go get changed." Brooke replied.

"Well then I vote for together." Taylor said laughing at the look on Peyton's face.

"Ok whatever, I'm going to change in the bathroom." Peyton said walking in the bathroom.

Taylor just continued to laugh as she went into the bedroom. A few minutes later the girls emerged in their outfits. Taylor in a blue jumpsuit and Peyton in a halter top and skirt.

Brooke wolf whistled. "Damn…my clothes are so awesome."

The girls just rolled their eyes. "Ok…when are the cheer freaks getting here?" Taylor asked.

"Hey I resent that! I'm a cheerleader!" Brooke said in mock hurt. "…And so is Peyton!"

"But not by my own will." Peyton cut in.

Brooke shook her head at her. "No…you love it, don't even deny it. Anyways, the others should be here shortly, meanwhile I need to set up the web cam so then everyone can see it!"

"…Since when did you have a web cam?" Peyton asked.

"Since umm…you lost yours?" Brooke replied sheepishly.

"What! You took it! You bitch! I had to buy a new one with my own money!"

"Well I was going to return it…I mean I was borrowing it, not like I'd keep it anyway." Brooke said as she found the web cam. "Ok Peyton since it's yours, you hook it up to the lap top."

Peyton stuck her tongue out at Brooke as she went over to the lap top to connect the web cam to. "You think anybody would be watching anyways? It's not like anyone knows about the website yet."

Brooke shrugged. "Well I told Tutor Girl to advertise us on other sites…let's just hope it works…"

And at that there was a knock at the door. "Brookie! We're here!" A female voice called out from the other side.

_And so it begins…_

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Meh...filler chapter I know but it was all I could think of... Sooo, this might be the only update this week because I have like 2 tests this week that I should at least attempt to study for... so um yea...you people might have to wait a while...

And if I do happen to update...don't expect much because I will most likely be really lazy and start to slack off on the story... or I might just be running out of ideas...which I am by the way...

Ok then, review if you wish to!


	9. Strut Your Stuff annnnd Pose!

Well...it looks like I updated...even though I was supposed to be studying...so if I fail my French test tomorrow I blame you people.

So...this is a pretty short chapter... but it's all that I could come up with...damn writer's block...

Oh and thanks again to my wonderful reviewers!

**Disclaimer still freakin' in effect!**

Psst...this is a repost because I was being stupid and messed some stuff up...so yea if you read the other version then disregard it...

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Ripple Effect

Haley inwardly groaned as she heard the knocks on the door. _Oh no oh no oh no. why did she have to invite the whole cheerleading squad? Why why why!_

"Hold on a second!" Brooke called out loud enough for the cheerleaders to hear on the other side of the door. "Ok, you three are to go inside the bedroom and to stay in there until I come get you. Got it?" Brooke asked Peyton, Taylor, and Haley.

"O…k?" Peyton said. _Good god what have I gotten myself into…_

Brooke shoved the girls inside the room and then looked at them in all seriousness. "Do no, I repeat, do not come out until I come for you, alright?" Brooke slammed the door shut before the girls could answer her.

"So…a bunch of cheerleaders all in one room… This should get interesting." Taylor mused out loud.

"Or turn into a disaster…knowing those cheerleaders it's most likely to happen…" Peyton said to no one in particular.

"Ten bucks says something will go wrong." Haley challenged. _Wow…picking up a gambling habit now are we?_

Peyton quirked an eyebrow at Haley. "Since when were you a gambler?"

"Since…I kicked Taylor's and Brooke's asses in those other bets!" Haley bragged.

"You made a bet with Brooke?" Taylor asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Haley replied.

"Because…you're too much of a goody-goody?" Peyton mocked.

"Shut up! I'm not a goody-goody, I just follow the rules unlike some people." Haley said defensively.

"Oh, so then you're a prude?" Taylor said as she laughed.

Haley pouted as she threw a pillow at Taylor. "You guys are such meanies."

"Aw I'm sorry, how about we call in your secret girlfriend and get her to comfort you." Taylor said grinning.

"What?" Haley asked in shock.

"Oh you know…Brooke. I totally saw you guys making out the other day." Taylor reminded her.

"We weren't doing anything! She…she just had something on her face." Haley replied. _There's nothing going on…I mean why would there be? Brooke's not like that…_

"Of course she did…something that needed your lips all over it." Taylor said still grinning.

"We…weren't…doing anything!" Haley exclaimed. "So back to that bet, are you guys in or not?" Haley said trying to change the subject.

"Before we go any further, what did you bet with Brooke about?" Peyton asked curiously.

"Remember when Brooke asked you guys what took so long earlier today?" Haley asked them.

"Yea…" The two other girls replied.

"Well I bet that Taylor got lost, and lo' and behold, she did, therefore making me 10 dollars richer." Haley said grinning smugly.

"Oh about that, I didn't really get lost, you see, I…or we decided to-" Before Taylor could finish, she was cut off by an object hurled at her which hit her in the face.

"She totally got lost! Nothing else…" Peyton said getting Taylor to shut up.

Haley looked confused while Taylor smirked.

"Anyways…back to the bet…" Peyton said trying to change the subject.

"Yes…the bet…" Haley said slowly looking at the other. _What's up with them? _"So I say that there'll be a disaster tonight."

"And I say that there won't be." Taylor said recovering from her attack by Peyton.

"And I say that someone will break into tears." Peyton said.

The other two looked at her weird.

"What? It's Tree Hill, there's always some crazy ass drama." Peyton told them.

"Alright so there'll be a pot which each of us will contribute 10 dollars to, winner gets the whole thing which will make them 20 dollars richer. Think about it… 20 whole dollars!" Haley exclaimed.

"Ah…so you've done this before… Gamble much?" Peyton said while grinning. "So is there anything else we should know about you? Like say, I don't know…you're not really a girl…or you're a convicted felon who escaped from jail…or that you totally have the hots for Brooke."

"Agh, stop it! I don't have the hots for Brooke!" Haley said.

At that moment Brooke walked in. "What about me?"

"Nothing!" Haley said quickly.

Brooke raised an eyebrow at Haley, then she looked over at Peyton and Taylor inquiringly.

"Hales here totally has the hots for you." Taylor explained.

"No I don't!" Haley defended herself. _And even if I didn't…or um did…ok never mind…_

Brooke's heart sank as she heard Haley deny it. _So she doesn't feel the same… wait why does it matter? It would never have worked anyways…assuming that I felt that way about her…which I don't… _"Ok then, well I got the audience settled in so we're ready to start the show…" Brooke said trying to avoid eye contact with Haley. "Here's what's going to happen, you walk out, strut your stuff, walk back in and change into another outfit which I will have laid out for you." Brooke explained. "Once you walk out again in the second outfit, you'll stay out there so they can admire my awesome clothes."

"Ok, so who's starting?" Peyton asked.

"It goes from the most casual to formal, so that means Taylor goes first, then you, then Tutor Girl." Brooke replied. "And once you come back to change…make sure you do it quickly! Ok now, chop chop, we must start the show!" Brooke said as she walked back out.

"C'mon Davis, let's start this already!" Someone called out from the living room.

"Calm down, we're all excited to see my beautiful clothes." Brooke said then turned around to the models. "Alright then Tay, you stay behind the wall a bit until I summon you." Brooke walked out into the living room. "Ladies and…ladies, I Brooke Davis are about to present to you the best clothes that you'll ever see…ever."

Most of the girls cheered as the others just raised their eyebrows.

Brooke continued. "May I present, Clothed Over Bros!" Brooke held up some clothing that Peyton, Haley, and Taylor weren't wearing.

"Aw that's so cute!" "Totally sweet!" Came various comments from the cheerleaders.

Brooke's grin just got wider. "There's t-shirts, halter tops, sweats, skirts, you name it, I've got!" Brook said as she held up numerous articles of clothing."

This elicited a few more applauds and cheers from the girls.

"But enough of you seeing the clothes alone, time for you to see what they look like on my beautiful models! First we have Taylor!" Brooke said as she motioned for Taylor to come out.

Taylor walked out swaying her hips and throwing winks out right and left. The girls in the crowd wolf whistled.

"As you can see she's wearing the baby blue Clothes Over Bros jump suit that says 'Hey I might be lazy but I look damn good doing so'." Brooke imitated a commentator at a sports game.

Taylor walked to the front of the couch, struck a pose and walked back into the bedroom.

"Next we have Peyton in a red halter top and a black skirt with the logo of course that just screams 'Look at me!'." Brooke continued as Peyton came out.

Peyton rolled her eyes but pretended she was going down a catwalk anyways.

"Whooo go Sawyer!" Someone said.

Peyton struck a pose as well and then walked back into the room to change.

"Now we have Haley in the super cute black formal/casual 'I'm going out to a party but not looking like a prude' dress" Brooke said as Haley came out this time.

Haley was a little less confident than Peyton and Taylor but she came out anyways. She placed her hand on her hip and walked out with attitude. _Ok…just a few minutes of humiliation and it'll all be over…right?_

"Oh my god! It's Tutor Girl!" Someone yelled out as someone else whistled.

"You go girl!" Came another comment.

Haley blushed but continued walking. She went back into the room to change quickly seeing Peyton and Taylor all ready to make another appearance.

"And we're back to Taylor, this time she's wearing a low cut top with some bootleg jeans that says 'You can look but you can't touch.". Brooke said as Taylor came back out.

Taylor walked out then remembered what Brooke said earlier, went over to pose by Brooke.

Peyton came out next.

"This time, Peyton is wearing the 'I'm too sexy for my shirt' sweater vest! Yes ladies…sweater vests aren't just for nerds." Brooke commented.

"Nerds are sexy!" A girl yelled out.

Peyton rolled her eyes as she went over to stand by Brooke.

Brooke grabbed her and whispered into her ear, "Take over for me." She then slipped a note into Taylor's hand as she walked into the room past Haley.

"…K?" Peyton said softly. _What now? Ok…improvise…yea… I didn't take all those drama classes for nothing… _She looked over at Haley to see what she was wearing. "Alright then, now Haley makes a return but this time she's wearing the Clothes Over Bros 'I'm sleeping so don't molest me' pajamas!" Peyton said as Haley walked out.

Haley walked back out into the living room but this time with a little more confidence. She walked back and forth the living room then went over to stand by Peyton. "Where's Brooke?" She whispered into Peyton's ear.

"No idea." Peyton replied.

Meanwhile Brooke rushed back into the room to slip on a red dress. She went out into the hall and tried getting Taylor's attention. "Taylor!"

Taylor looked over to where she heard her name, and there stood Brooke in an elegant dress.

"Read the note out loud!" Brooke said to Taylor pointing to the note she slipped her earlier.

"No way! I'm not saying this!" Taylor replied.

"Do it!" Brooke said as she threw something at Taylor.

The rest of the girls saw a tampon hit Taylor in the head.

"Now that's what I call PMSing." One of the girls said.

"What the hell? First pillows are thrown at me now tampons? It better not be used." Taylor said.

"Just freakin' read it! And it's still in the wrapper dumbass!" Brooke commanded.

Taylor finally gave in and opened the note and read it staccato-ly. "And now, last but not least, we have the amazing… 'I wish I was her' Brooke Davis in a stunning Clothes Over Bros red dress that just practically screams…" Taylor paused a bit to roll her eyes. " 'Shag now talk later but don't tell'."

When Taylor finished, Brooke walked out in her dress.

Once again the girls cheered.

"So if you liked what you saw…which you obviously did, you can buy these on the website!" Brooke said to everyone then turned over to the web cam. "And to all of you who are watching this at home…freaking buy something because this was not a free show." Brooke said into the web cam.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Brooke went over to open it and there stood three girls. "Hello there Brookie." Said the girl standing closest to Brooke.

"Theresa." Brooke replied coolly. "And what do you want?"

"Oh we just heard from someone online that you were throwing a little fashion show for your…homemade clothes." Theresa said with a smug smirk. "So instead of watching it from the web cam, we thought we'd come over and see it in person." Theresa replied motioning to the other two girls behind her.

"Well it looks like you're too late because we just finished up." Brooke replied getting ready to close the door.

"Hold on there Brookie, we came all this way to see some clothes the least you could do is be charitable." Theresa said stepping into the doorway so Brooke couldn't close the door.

"Speaking of charity…can I buy some of those clothes?" Said a girl behind Theresa.

Theresa turned to give the girl a high five. "Nice one Rachel."

Brooke glared at Theresa and Rachel. _Now she's attacking my clothes? What the hell does she want with me? There's nothing else to take…she already has Luke… _Brooke then looked over to the third girl in the back who has yet to say a word. _Why does she always tag along with them? _"Bevin, why do you still hand around these idiots? You can do so much better than this." Brooke directed towards Bevin.

"I-" Before Bevin could finish Theresa interrupted her.

"Shut up. I told you not to say anything and you won't." Theresa scolded Bevin.

Bevin closed her mouth and looked down at the ground.

Theresa turned back to look at Brooke. "She can't do much better, in fact, she's lucky to be in my presence. If she dropped us then who would she go to? You?" Theresa scoffed.

Peyton and Haley went to stand behind Brooke. "Something wrong?" Peyton asked.

"Oh no nothing's wrong, we just came to buy something from Brooke." Theresa replied.

"I'm sure we have the right to refuse service, and I think Brooke is going to take advantage of that." Haley said getting irritated. _Who the hell do they think they are ruining this for Brooke?_

"Oh and speaking of taking advantage of things…how was Keller Brooke?" Theresa asked looking at Brooke with a smirk.

Brooke stopped breathing and stared at a smirking Theresa. _How…how does she know? _Tears welled up in Brooke's eyes. Not wanting to let them get the pleasure of seeing her cry, Brooke rushed towards her room.

Haley saw Brooke run away with tears in her eyes and her heart broke into a million pieces. She turned towards Theresa and glared at her. "You bitch." She spat out as she slapped her and went after Brooke.

Theresa's eyes widened and she staggered back a bit when Haley slapped her. Some of the other girls in the room snickered.

Peyton smirked. "How's it feel to be bitch slapped?" She said as she slammed the door in Theresa's face.

The other girls stood while still snickering at Theresa being slapped. "Ok well we have to go now… cheer stuff and all…" One of the girls said as she headed for the door with the others right on her heels. "Give Brooke our regards…and don't worry, if we run into Theresa, we'll kick her ass for fun... And for Brooke." She said as she and the rest of the cheerleaders left.

Peyton went to stand by Taylor. "Well…it looks like I'm 20 dollars richer…"

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Meh...I don't like this chapter...it's too...I don't know but I don't like it...what? It's not weird to not like your own creations...I mean think of how God must feel. Ahaha that was horrible I know but someone had to say it...

So um yea since I'm running out of ideas and all...don't expect an update anytime soon...yea I know I always say that yet I update the very next day, BUT! the chapters are really starting to lose quality...so um yea I must take my time if this story is to be any good.

Oh! Wait a tic, I'm not done yet. Ok...so I'm like on the 9th chapter right? Right. Yet it's only been like two days in the story...two days! So I'm thinking to myself "What the hell mate?". So now I feel like this story is moving very sloooowly...so um yea tell me if you think so also...because I don't want it getting dragged out and boring and stuff...

Right then..._now_ I'm done, review if you want to!


	10. I Don't Know What You Don't Know

Haha! I'm back with another update! And guess what! I totally passed my French test with a 70/71. w00t go me! And I didn't even study...I was too busy writing that other chapter...hmm...I wonder if that's supposed to mean something...

Alright before you read this...make sure you read the repost of chapter 9 if you haven't done so already...if you don't then this chapter will get a little confusing...well maybe not but read chapter 9 anyways so you don't go all "Wtf mate?".

Anyways...this is probably my shortest chapter yet...so yea... but hey, at least I'm updating right? Right! Well no... I'd rather make you people wait and have the chapters be good than to rush it...

So...thanks again to all my reviewers!

**Yea yea diclaimer still in effect I know...**

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Ripple Effect

Haley walked into the room to tend to Brooke. She saw Brooke sitting on the ground at the foot of her bed with her knees drawn up and her head on them. Haley could see Brooke shaking slightly. She went over to Brooke and sat next to her, putting a comforting arm over her shoulder. "Brooke?"

Brooke didn't answer, she just leaned into Haley's hold on her.

"You ok?" Haley asked trying to get a response from Brooke.

Brooke buried her head into the nook of Haley's neck. "It just still hurts too much…I should be over him, shouldn't I?"

Haley felt a swirl of sadness and jealousy. She was sad that Brooke got hurt, but jealous of…Lucas? _She still has feelings for him… _"Do…do you still love him?" Haley asked hesitantly.

"I don't know…I just don't know anymore." Brooke replied sadly. _If what I felt for him was love…then what am I feeling for you?_

Haley didn't push the subject any further and just settled on holding Brooke.

Meanwhile out in the living room, Peyton and Taylor were having a heated argument.

"Dude, you so did not win that bet!" Taylor said to Peyton.

"Did too! Brooke cried! Therefore I win." Peyton said. _This is so wrong…I mean Brooke got hurt and here I am arguing about some bet…but it's 20 dollars Pey…think about it! _Peyton inwardly fought with herself with the greed and guilt battling it out.

"Nuh uh. You said that someone would burst into tears. Brooke didn't do that therefore vetoing your win."

"Veto? This isn't some democracy!" _Don't say cheer-ocracy don't say cheer-ocracy don't say cheer-ocracy._ _Damn you Bring it On! _"It's a cheer-ocracy!" Came out of her mouth before she could stop it. Peyton's eyes widened hoping that Taylor didn't notice what she just said.

Taylor raised her eyebrow at Peyton. "Cheer-ocracy? Did you just seriously quote Bring it On?" _…That's hot. Oh god, now I'm a Hilton._

"…No!" Peyton replied quickly. "I won the bet!" She said trying to change the subject.

"No you didn't you cheater!"

"I didn't cheat! Brooke cried of her own will…well…maybe…I don't know…it was Theresa's fault…" Peyton blabbed.

"Yes Brooke did cry, I'll give her that, but she didn't burst into tears, which was what we agreed to!" Taylor argued.

"But there were tears!" Peyton retaliated. "That's what matters!"

Before the girls could argue any more, there was a knock at the door. Peyton decided that Haley and Brooke wouldn't be coming out any time soon so she went to open the door. When Peyton opened the door, there was a familiar girl standing in front of her. "Bevin?"

"H-Hi." Bevin said shyly.

"Didn't you already do enough damage for today?" Peyton said coolly. _What are they here to finish the job or something?_

Bevin's face fell at Peyton's comment. "I actually came to apologize for that…"

"Well it's a little too late for that. The damage has been done and you can't fix it." Peyton snapped.

"Well she can't fix me if she didn't break me." Brooke said coming into the living room with Haley at her side.

"Brooke, are you ok?" Peyton asked as she saw her friend walk in.

"I'm fine thanks to Haley. Where were you two when I was having my melt down? Talk about selfishness." Brooke joked. "Oh well it doesn't matter, I'd rather have Haley cheering me up anyways."

The other girls smiled weakly. _Well at least she's feeling good enough to joke about it now…_

Brooke realized that Bevin was still standing at the door. "You wanna come in?" Brooke invited.

"Oh I shouldn't, I just came to apologize for how Theresa acted, and for how I should've." Bevin replied.

"No need, you didn't do anything wrong." Brooke assured her.

"But I just stood there and let her attack you…I should've at least stood up for you…" Bevin protested.

"I said it was alright. By the way, you never did answer my question, why do you hang out with her?" Brooke asked.

"I…I can't say." Bevin said slowly. "What she said was kinda right though…"

"What was?" Haley spoke up for the first time in since Bevin's appearance.

"I don't have anywhere else to go if I stopped hanging out with her…I'd be an outcast." Bevin said.

"No you wouldn't, you can hang with us!" Brooke exclaimed.

"I-I can't. I have to go." Bevin said turning to leave.

"Wait!" Brooke called out.

Bevin didn't turn and just walked on.

"…That was weird." Peyton said.

"Yea…wonder what that was about…" Brooke thought aloud.

"I should probably get going too." Peyton said as she looked at her watch. "It's getting pretty late."

"You're going to leave me alone with these two?" Taylor asked.

"…That's supposed to be my line." Haley said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor and Brooke asked at the same time.

"What do you think?" Haley grinned.

"You are so going to pay for that later Tutor Girl." Brooke threatened. _Hmm….what to do… get her in her sleep? Spank her? Both? Wait…what the hell?_

Peyton went to grab her jacket. "Well I'm going to take off now, I'll see you lot tomorrow." She went towards the door.

"…How do you plan on getting home? You don't have your car." Taylor told Peyton.

"Oh…right. Someone give me a ride because there is no way I'm walking in that darkness." Peyton said looking outside.

"Oh! I'll drive you!" Taylor squealed grabbing Brooke's car keys.

Peyton looked at Taylor weird. "Should I be worried that you're being all nice to me?" Peyton asked concerned. _She's going to pull another trick…I just know it…_

"Of course not! I'm always nice! Just ask Haley-bub." Taylor said looking over at Haley for back up.

"..No comment." Haley said grinning.

Taylor stuck her tongue out at her as she turned and grabbed Peyton and left.

"Bye!" Peyton yelled back at Brooke and Haley.

"Bye…" The two girls said softly.

"So…alone again." Brooke smirked at Haley.

"Yea… I guess…" Haley replied nervously. _She's smirking…that's never good…_

Taylor was driving Peyton back home and the girls sat in silence inside the car. "So…why aren't you staying over again?" Taylor asked breaking the silence.

"I've spent the last day or so with you guys…I need some alone time." Peyton replied. "No offense or anything, it's not like I don't like being with you guys but I just need some time to myself." _And because I might grope you in your sleep._

"Pfft. Why would you want to be with yourself? We all know it'd be better to be with me." Taylor said.

"Maybe, maybe not." Peyton said grinning.

Taylor pulled up at Peyton's house and Peyton got ready to get out of the car.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then." Peyton said opening the door.

"What…no goodbye kiss?" Taylor asked in a fake hurt voice.

Peyton paused then turned towards Taylor. She leaned towards her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek then got out of the car before Taylor could respond.

Taylor sat in shock at what Peyton had just done. _Did…did she just kiss me? _By the time Taylor had snapped back to reality, Peyton had gone inside her house. _She did! Albeit it was just a peck on the cheek, but it was a kiss nonetheless! _Taylor grinned as she headed back to Haley and Brooke's apartment.

Peyton walked into the house mentally scolding herself. _Why did you just do that? What? It's normal for friends to kiss each other…right? But we're not exactly friends though…are we? _Peyton just shook her head as she went up to her room. She went over to the closet to change into her night clothes but stopped in her tracks.

"_Hello Peyton."_

Peyton stared at her other self in horror. "How are you here? I'm not even sleeping!"

"_You don't have to be asleep to be going crazy." _Her other half replied as she walked up to her.

"…I'm not going crazy." Peyton said defensively.

"_No need to get defensive, we're the same person so if you're going crazy then so am I. Now…where is it." _The girl asked.

"…Where's what?"

"_Tsk tsk, we've been through this already, now where is the bracelet?"_

"Why?" Peyton asked wanting to know.

"_You know why, you sent her away."_

"…No I didn't…" Peyton said slowly.

"_Yes you did. You sent Ellie away. You shunned her. Just like everyone else in your life."_

"I didn't send her away, she left." Peyton said quietly.

"_Don't deny it, we both know that you'll realize how stupid you're being later then you'll go sulk and brood and wonder why the world's against you. Boo hoo. Now where is the bracelet?" _The other girl asked again.

"You're a bitch you know that?"

"_Yea well we're one and the same. So that makes you a bitch too. I'm not going to ask again, where is the bracelet?"_

"I-I don't know!" Peyton shouted.

"_Then find it."_

Peyton rummaged her room looking for the bracelet. She went through her desk, the drawers, even her records. "I can't find it!" Peyton said, on the verge of tears.

"_Look harder then." _Her other self replied lazily.

"I just can't find it!" Peyton cried as she slid down onto the floor on the brink sobbing.

"_Are you sure you're looking in the right place?"_

Peyton's head shot up. …_She took it with her… _And with that Peyton ran to her computer to find a search website. She found a missing persons site and typed in her…mother's name. After a few moments an address popped up. _There she is… _"I…found it." Peyton said out loud. "Feel better now?" She said to her other self.

"_Do you?"_

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Meh...I am not liking these chapters lately...but that's just me...hopefully.

Chapter 11 might not be up for a few days because as you can tell from this chapter I've pretty much run out of ideas.

So um yea...I really don't have anything else to say so review if you want to!


	11. No Honor Amongst Thieves

Mwahaha, I made you people wait for this chapter. Heh, and I probably could've had this up yesterday but I was just too lazy...so um yea...

Hmm...well I don't have much to say except this is like a filler chapter...so yea don't expect much...

Thanks to all the awesome reviewers! You people rock!

**w00t, go disclaimer for still being in effect.**

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Ripple Effect

Peyton sat at her computer staring back at the screen as if expecting it to say something. _What do I do? Do I go find her? _Peyton waited for her other half to say something but nothing ever came, just silence. _Well…looks like I'm sane again…for now… _Peyton let out a frustrated groan. _Why does everything always have to be so complicated? _Getting aggravated, Peyton shut off the computer and fell on her bed. _There's always tomorrow…_

Taylor walked into the apartment to find a flushed looking Haley and a jubilant Brooke. "What's with you?" Taylor asked Haley seeing her crimson cheeks.

"Nothing!" Haley answered quickly.

Brooke's triumphant smirk just grew wider.

"Alright then…" Taylor said skeptically.

"It's nothing I swear!" Haley said once more.

"Yea…it was definitely nothing." Brooke said rolling her eyes. "It was more like a-" Brooke was cut off by a hard nudge in the ribs.

"Shut up!" Haley muttered. _Oh god, first Brooke finds out now Taylor might…_

"Oh wow now I want to know." Taylor said looking over at Brooke. "Well?"

"No it was nothing! Brooke, don't!" Haley pleaded.

"Sorry Hales but this is just too good to not tell anybody. " Brooke said grinning.

Haley groaned as she buried her head into her knees.

Brooke laughed. "Don't worry I'll cheer you up later once I tell Taylor of what I found." Brooke consoled as she put her arm around Haley.

"Ooooh what you found? What did you find? Oh my god, Haley's not doing drugs is she?" Taylor asked with her expression going from excited to concerned.

"No!" Haley exclaimed. "Tay how could you? You know me better than that."

"You never know." Taylor said sheepishly. "It's always the quiet ones that get ya."

Haley rolled her eyes as she put her head back down on her knees again.

"Now if you two will stop your rude interrupting, I'd like to continue on about what I discovered today." Brooke cut in.

"Fine go on." Taylor said. _Wonder what she found that made Haley all defensive…_

"Alright, so remember when you left to give Peyton a ride?" Brooke started.

Taylor nodded but Brooke ignored her and continued.

"So it was just me and Haley left here at the apartment. Well I got bored because well…I'm Brooke Davis!" Brooke said flashing her dimples.

The other two girls rolled their eyes.

"How rude! You know I'm great." Brooke said in mock hurt.

"Oh yea, you're fantastic." Haley said sarcastically. _No…you're more than that…_

Brooke didn't pick up on the sarcasm so she continued on. "Anyways, we got bored so we went into the room to try and sterilize my bed-"

"You mean you tried to get me to sterilize your bed." Haley cut in.

"Same thing." Brooke said to Haley. "While Haley was busy with getting the sheets into the washer, I was still bored so I explored around on Haley's half of the room."

"You mean you snooped!" Haley cut in once again.

Brooke ignored her outburst and continued. "Well I found this box thing under her bed with all these warnings on it like 'Do not open' and whatnot like that."

"You know when it says to not open…I think you're not supposed to open it…" Taylor analyzed.

"Yea, like I was going to listen to some box." Brooke said rolling her eyes. "So I opened it and there was all this junk-"

"It was not junk!" Haley cut in. "It's memorabilia. And it's precious to me…" Haley said reminiscing on what she had in it. _It's for memories I don't want to remember…but want to keep anyways…_

"Ok fine then, it was full of 'memorabilia'." Brooke said emphasizing the word memorabilia by making parentheses with her hands. "So none of the…'memorabilia' looked very interesting so I disregarded most of them. Then at the bottom, I found the cutest picture like ever." Brooke said with a childish grin on her face.

"Go on…" Taylor urged.

Haley groaned dreading what Brooke was about to tell Taylor. _You know I really shouldn't care anymore…but I still do!_

"Ok so this picture I found…was of Haley!" Brooke exclaimed.

Taylor raised an eyebrow at her. "…That's it? This is what you're spazzing about?"

"See if you just learned to stop interrupting then you'd know what Haley was doing in the picture." Brooke replied. "So it was Haley right? Right. And in it, Haley looked like she was 8 or something and she was dressed up as Cinderella!" Brooke squealed.

Taylor's eyes widened. "She what! When did this happen? Where was I?"

Haley sighed. "Remember when you were around 11 or something and mom and dad planned a trip to Disneyland?" Haley asked Taylor.

Taylor scrunched up her face as she tried to remember. "…No?"

"Exactly, that's because you weren't there." Haley said.

"What! You guys went to Disneyland without me?" Taylor asked in shock. _How did they up and go to California without me knowing? _

"Well you and dad had a fight or something that day and well he must've been pretty ticked off because he sent you to Nana's house…and well we went to California…" Haley said sheepishly.

Taylor remained silent for a moment. "So…dad got mad at me because he caught me making out with someone, then he imprisons me at our Nana's house, then the rest of the family just goes out to California to have a merry ol' time while I was cooped up at that old bat's house helping her knit?"

"…Yes?" Haley replied not looking at her sister.

"Well…I have to say touché for keeping it a secret for…what 10 years?" Taylor said grinning slightly.

"Wait…you're not mad?" Haley asked surprised.

Taylor shrugged. "It's not like I would've gone along anyways, family outings aren't my thing."

"Oh…ok… By the way, who were you even making out with that got dad all mad? In fact…why were you making out with someone anyways? You were like 11!" Haley asked glad that she got all that off her chest.

"Huh? It was no one! Besides… 11 is like… a prime age for practicing making out." Taylor said. _Hmm…yep! She doesn't need to know about Jade…nope not yet…_

"I gotta agree with you there." Brooke cut in finally. "I mean I probably started at…13?" Brooke mused.

"See, I'm not alone." Taylor said.

Haley rolled her eyes at them.

"So Brooke…about that picture…can I see it?" Taylor asked slyly.

"Yes!"

"No!" Came two replies from Brooke and Haley.

"Yes! It's just too cute to not be seen, wait here I'll go get it!" Brooke said as she jumped from the couch and ran into the room.

Haley ran after her hoping that she wouldn't find it again. _I hope I hid it better this time…_

Brooke went over to her desk and opened up a drawer, revealing the picture of Haley.

"Brooke! You kept it!" Haley asked shocked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Brooke asked looking at her like she was insane. _Pfft, like I'm going to let this baby get away. _Brooke grabbed the picture and ran back out into the living room with Haley at her heels.

"Brooke no! Give it back!" Haley pleaded.

"Hehe no!" Brooke giggled. "Tay Tay! Look!" Brooke cried as she jumped on the couch showing Taylor the picture.

Taylor gasped as she looked at the picture. It was of a younger version of Haley wearing a Cinderella look-alike dress standing in front of a castle. "Oh my god!"

"I know! Doesn't she look so adorable?" Brooke said excitedly. "I mean how does someone look that cute? It's not possible!" _Well apparently it is because she still looks adorable years later…_

"Actually I wasn't thinking that…I was thinking that she's wearing my crown!" Taylor exclaimed. "I was looking for that!"

"Who what? I didn't do anything…" Haley replied trying to get out of the room.

"Hey get back here! You owe me a crown now that I know who took it!" Taylor said grabbing Haley.

"No! It wasn't me!" Haley cried struggling to get free from Taylor.

"Don't make me tickle you Haley-bub." Taylor threatened.

Haley's eyes widened. "Oh look it's Peyton!" Haley said as she pointed towards the door.

Taylor turned quickly at the thought of Peyton coming back. "Peyton?"

Haley squealed as she got away from Taylor and ran.

"You liar!" Taylor said to Haley. "Grab her! Don't let her get away!" Taylor yelled at Brooke.

Brooke complied happily by grabbing Haley around the waist. "Haha! Got you!"

Haley froze when she came into contact with Brooke. Her breathing quickened, and Brooke seemed to be doing the same yet she wouldn't…or couldn't let go.

Taylor rushed over to them to tickle Haley while Brooke held on. "Give up! You'll never win! Return me my crown!" Taylor bellowed over Haley's laughter.

"Taylor stop!" Haley spluttered out in between laughs. "Stop!"

Taylor stopped briefly as Brooke let go of Haley. "Well…where's my crown?"

Haley took a moment to steady her breathing. "…Do you think I really kept it all these years? I lost while we were still in California."

"You suck." Taylor said.

"But not for-" Haley paused to think over what she was going to say. _Don't say 'but not for free' again…think Haley think! _"…Your mom sucks."

"…Hay…we're related." Taylor said quirking her eyebrow at Haley. _…Did she just do a 'your mom' comeback? She's losing her touch…_

"Maybe…maybe not!" Haley stuck her tongue out as she ran away. "It's late! I'm going to bed!"

Taylor and Brooke looked at the clock and thought it would be best to go to bed also since there was nothing else to do.

"I totally call your bed." Taylor announced when she went into the bedroom.

"No way!" Haley said as she looked for her pajamas.

"Well too bad!" Taylor said as she jumped in Haley's bed.

"Taylor! Give me back my bed!"

"Go sleep with your girlfriend in her bed." Taylor said pulling the covers over her head.

"Yea c'mon Haley, I did say I'd make it up to you tonight." Brooke said winking.

Haley was speechless. _I-Is she serious! Wait why does it matter? Not like we'd actually do anything…_

Brooke laughed at Haley's expression. "Wait…where are we supposed to sleep? My bed isn't sterile yet since you didn't finish cleaning it." Brooke said.

"Well since Taylor is in my bed, I guess we'll have to sleep on the floor again." Haley said as she looked for the blankets they used last night. Haley found them and laid them out on the floor near the foot of her bed.

Brooke went to the bathroom to change into her sleeping clothes.

"You know she likes you." Taylor said sleepily.

"What?" Haley asked as she laid down on the makeshift sleep area.

Taylor yawned. "Brooke…she…likes…you…" Taylor said falling asleep.

Haley just sat there thinking about what Taylor just said. _She's sleepy…she has no idea what she's talking about…_

Brooke walked in after changing into her clothes and laid down next to Haley. "Night!" Brooke said in a cheery voice.

"Wow, you seem happy to be going to sleep." Haley said amused.

"Yep. Happy to be able to sleep with you again." Broke said as she pulled the covers over herself and Haley.

"…What?" Haley asked shocked.

"Or it's the other way around… I don't know…" Brooke said closing her eyes.

"…Ok…" Haley said as she drifted off to sleep.

Brooke moved closer to Haley to snuggle with her.

"Umm…Brooke?" Haley asked stiffening.

"What? I'm cold" Brooke said.

"Do you want more blankets?" Haley asked. It's not that she minded having Brooke so close, it's just that she didn't think she could control her actions while she was asleep.

"No no…this is better…" Brooke said drifting off to sleep. _I may not have a glass slipper for you but you're still my princess…_

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Meh...I have nothing to say...I'm just running out of witty jokes...

So um I might continue the whole updating every 2-3 days because...well I don't know...because I can?

Alright then well review if you feel like it!

And I shall see you lot again in a few days...


	12. Observation isn't Creepy

sigh I can't believe I updated on a Sunday...on my 'me' day! Meh, oh well. So um yea...thanks again to all those wonderful reviewers!

Mwahaha (yet again with the evil laugh) I could've posted this earlier today but I was absorbed in watching the Cirque du Soleil...awesomeness circus stuff...and no freaky clowns! Haha so yea...I'm on an evil late updating streak...so watch out...

Hmm...well I've got nothing else to say...nope...nothing to say...except for I warn you now...the following chapter contains some pretty clichéd material...so yea...

**Bleh bleh! I'm disclaimer-acula that's still in effect. Bleh!**

Yea I know I'm weird.

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Ripple Effect

Taylor was the first to wake up the next morning. Someone had forgotten to close the blinds so she was jerked out of her sleeping state by the blinding sunlight. _Agh, no wonder vampires don't like sunlight… _Taylor sat up dazedly looking around the room. Her gaze fell down to the sight at the foot of the bed. She saw Haley and Brooke cuddling each other with more than content looks on their faces. _Haha, I knew it. I'm always right, they so want each other. _Taylor then grinned as she got an idea. She looked around the room to see if they owned a camera. _Damnit, now I really do need to invest in a camera… _But she then got a much better idea. As quietly as she could, Taylor got out of bed and went for Haley and Brooke's purses. She found them on the desk and she went through them. After finding what she was looking for, Taylor tiptoed to the foot of the bed where Haley and Brooke were. She opened their cell phones and took a picture of them cuddling. She then set it as their wallpaper so that when they opened up their phones, they'd see the picture. _Hah…try to deny that. _Satisfied with her proof, Taylor crawled back into bed to try and get a few more hours of sleep. _You two are getting together even if it's the last thing I do…_

A few hours later, Haley stirred as she began to wake up. Feeling a weight on the right side of her body, Haley turned her head to see what it was. She saw Brooke partly laying on her body with her head on her shoulder. Brooke's face was serene and her lips were parted slightly as she breathed in and out. Haley wished that the moment would go on, just being able to lay there and look at Brooke. _She looks so vulnerable… defense is paper thin just one touch and I'd be in too deep to ever swim against the current…_

Brooke could feel a finger tracing her face. She opened her eyes to see a smiling Haley. "Morning." Brooke said with a smile of her own.

Haley ceased tracing Brooke's face which she hadn't known she had been doing. "Morning Tigger." Haley said smiling brightly now even though she was somewhat saddened that she couldn't watch Brooke any longer.

"What time is it?" Brooke asked as she tried sitting up but couldn't do so because she was still clinging onto Haley.

"Time to get up." Taylor said from her sitting position on the bed. Taylor had been awake for awhile now because she couldn't fall back to sleep earlier. She saw Haley wake up and watch Brooke sleep.

Haley sat up quickly at hearing Taylor's voice. "How long have you been up?"

"Long enough." Taylor smirked as she winked at Haley.

Brooke followed suit as she sat up as well. "Sheesh were you just sitting there watching us? That's kinda creepy…"

"I shouldn't be the one you should be creeped out by." Taylor said still smirking as she got out of bed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke asked fully awake now.

Taylor looked over at Haley to see her panicking. "Nothing." Taylor said giving Haley a 'Haha I know everything' look. "Now c'mon people get your lazy asses up! Let's go see Peyton." Taylor said as she tried pulling Haley and Brooke up off the floor.

Brooke raised an eyebrow. "Excited to see Peyton now are we?"

"What? I'd rather hang out with her than you two." Taylor said walking towards the bedroom door.

This earned a feigned hurt look from Haley and Brooke. Brooke tossed the pillow she was using at Taylor.

Taylor getting used to this caught the pillow before it could hit her head. "Tsk tsk, back to the throwing of things again?" Taylor threw the pillow back at Brooke which hit her in the face. "Now get up!" Taylor commanded as she went into the bathroom.

"She's a bossy one." Brooke said once Taylor left.

"Yep, I feel bad for Peyton because she seems to be her target." Haley commented.

"Yea…poor Pey Pey." Brooke said as she got up, pulling Haley with her. "We should get ready before your sister loses it and attacks us."

Haley grinned as she looked for some clothes to change into.

Half an hour later the girls were all ready and in the car driving to Peyton's house. They sat in a comfortable silence for the girls didn't know what to talk about.

Brooke couldn't take it anymore due to her extroverted nature and decided to speak up. "Soooo…" She started. "Taylor… what's up with you and Peyton?"

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked looking in the rear view mirror to look at Brooke.

"I mean why did you drag us to her house right when we wake up?" Brooke clarified.

"What's so bad about that? Don't you want to see her, aren't you supposed to be her best friend?" Taylor asked looking back at the road now.

"Yea…but what's your excuse? You barely know her…" Brooke asked. _…Haha I bet Taylor has a little girl crush on Pey…_

They arrived at Peyton's house and Taylor pulled up into her driveway. "I don't know…I guess I just like her…" Taylor said as she got out of the car. _Maybe a little too much…_

Brooke and Haley followed her out and up to the house. _Like? As in like like? So that means that…oh my god! So that's why she's always all… and they're always all like… oh my god! It all makes sense! I'm a genius! _As Brooke was having her little revelation in her head, Taylor had already walked in the house and Haley was standing at the door looking at Brooke all weird wondering why she wasn't coming in.

"Umm…Brooke?" Haley asked slightly concerned.

Brooke snapped out of it and looked at Haley. "…Huh?"

"You coming?" Haley asked still looking concerned.

"Oh yea…" Brooke said as she walked up to Haley and into the house. The house was unusually quiet, there wasn't the sound of Peyton's music blaring or anything else. "Looks like she's still asleep…" Brooke thought out loud.

"Well then let's wake her." Taylor said walking up the stairs.

"You know where her room is?" Haley asked following her sister.

"Yea, why not?" Taylor asked as she reached the door.

"Oh I don't know since you've never been here before?" Haley said.

"I've been here before silly, I went and picked up the art from her remember? Well…it was more like I picked her up because she brought the art and I just brought her to your apartment…" Taylor trailed on as she opened the door to Peyton's room.

Peyton had the covers over her head so the rest of the girls couldn't see her.

Taylor ran over to the bed and jumped on Peyton to shriek and wake up.

"Who's there!" Peyton asked as she sat up upon feeling someone on her. "Who's there! I know karate!" Peyton threatened.

"Really? That's kinda hot." Taylor said straddling Peyton through her blankets.

Peyton heard Taylor's voice and calmed down a little bit. She took the covers off her head to look at the girl sitting on her. "Um…can I ask what you're doing here?"

"We're here to get you to wake up you freaky artsy weirdo." Taylor said still straddling Peyton.

"…We?" Peyton asked feeling a bit uncomfortable with Taylor on top of her. _Does she know she's straddling me?_

"Yes we." Taylor said as she pointed to the door where Haley and Brooke were standing with amused looks on their faces.

_Aha! Hah! I knew it! She does like her! Haha! _Brooke thought to herself grinning now.

"Well thanks for being my personal alarm clocks but I'd rather sleep." Peyton said laying back down on her bed.

"Too bad, you're waking up Blondie." Brooke said walking into Peyton's room.

"Yea, we're bored and hungry now wake up." Taylor said still on top of Peyton.

"How about not. And as much as I like you sitting on top of me, you wanna get off now?" Peyton asked trying to pull the covers back over her head.

"What, do you like the top? Cause we can switch positions you know…" Taylor said grinning as she got off slowly.

Peyton not in the mood to joke or flirt around with Taylor rolled her eyes as she tried to get Taylor off. "Off! I want to go back to sleep."

"Oh no you don't, wake up, unfortunately we all have to hang out again." Brooke said pulling the covers off of Peyton.

"No, I don't feel like it." Peyton struggled in trying to get her blankets back.

"What is up with you? C'mon wake up!" Brooke said tugging on the blanket.

"I said no!" Peyton replied loudly this time causing the other girls to jump a little.

Brooke looked at her friend worriedly. _Something's up…she doesn't just get all pissed off for no reason… _"All right Sawyer, what's wrong? You're being more of a downer than usual." Brooke said sitting down on the bed.

"Nothing." Peyton said turning to her side so she wouldn't have to look at the others.

"It's not nothing if you're being like this, now talk." Brooke said sternly this time.

Not wanting to talk about the situation with Brooke yet Peyton decided it would be best to not talk at all.

Brooke sighed as she got off the bed. "Fine be that way, we're leaving." Brooke said as she headed towards the door ushering the other two out.

Haley looked back at Peyton worriedly as she stepped out of the room, as did Taylor.

Once Haley and Taylor left the room, Brooke slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Hey! What the hell?" Taylor yelled through the door. "Let us back in!"

"C'mon Tay, if Peyton's going to talk at all it'll be with Brooke." Haley said dragging Taylor downstairs to wait.

_But why not me?_

Brooke walked back over to the bed where Peyton was. "Alright, now that the peanut gallery is gone, talk." Brooke urged.

Peyton sighed realizing that she had no choice. She sat up and leaned against the headboard to look at Brooke. After a few moments of gathering her thoughts, she spoke. "I drove her away…"

"Her who?" Brooke asked glad that her friend decided to talk to her.

"Ellie…" Peyton said looking down at her hands. "I drove her away…just like everyone else…"

Brooke lifted Peyton's head so she'd look at her in the eyes. "No you didn't, she was being stupid and left you. You didn't do anything." Brooke reassured her.

"Exactly!" Peyton cried. "I didn't do anything so she left. I didn't talk to her, I didn't bother to go see her when I knew she was dying, I didn't even go help her when I found out she was doing drugs." Peyton collapsed with her heads in her hands. "And now that I know where she is, I don't even know if I should go see her…I don't have anyone left but her."

Brooke rubbed Peyton's back soothingly. "Shh calm down, that's not true. You still have me…and Haley…" _And Taylor…I think…_

Peyton calmed down a bit as she sat back up. "Really?"

"Really really." Brooke grinned as she hugged her friend. "So you said that you found her right?"

"Yea…" Peyton said.

"Well then go to her! This could be your last chance to make things right between you two." Brooke encouraged Peyton.

"B-But she's like in Ohio or something!" Peyton said exasperated. "How am I supposed to get there even?"

"Duh, drive?" Brooke replied. "Oh my god…road trip!" Brooke jumped up from the bed and squealed. "We can totally go on a road trip! Like you, me, Tutor Girl, and the crazy sister! It'll be fun! Oh and uh…it'll give you a chance to see your mom…"

"A road trip?" Peyton asked incredulously. "I'm not sure I could survive being in a car that long with you and Taylor."

"How rude!" Brooke said in mock hurt. "What about Haley?" _Besides, you know you want to be cooped up in a car with Taylor…haha…this is perfect…yesss two birds with one stone…I'm a genius…_

"Haley's normal." Peyton said her spirits lifting now. _A road trip might not be such a bad idea…_

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Whatever, so are you up for it? Huh huh are ya are ya?" Brooke asked jumping up and down.

"Jeez, no wonder Hales calls you Tigger, fine, road trip whatever." Peyton said trying to get Brooke to calm down.

"Yes!" Brooke exclaimed. "We should totally go like right now."

"Now?"

"Now."

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Alright first off, there are a few lines in there that are from a song so um yea if anybody notices, just know that I'm not trying to pass it off as my own writing...because it's not mine. Why didn't I put a disclaimer up for the song you ask? Well I didn't use a lot of it and it blends into the story so it's pretty unnoticeable...but yea if there are problems about it then I will make a disclaimer for it...

Second...yes I know I'm evil...it's the 12th chapter and they're still not together...I know I know it's going pretty slow but I'm a slow person.

So yea review if you wish to!

And I shall see you people again in a few days...


	13. Nerds vs Smarties

Hehe...what do I have to say for myself you ask? ...Sorry? Yep...I'm sorry it took so long to update...but it's not my fault I swear! I blame school...and my PS2...yep...those are great excuses...

But if you really wanted to know, you could check my website, I have this little blog dealy where I keep you posted on how the story's going and all that. In fact...I think I update that more than I do this story...hmm... but seriously though...if any of you are still out there, I do apologize for the wait... like I said before...I'm a slow person...and not just academically! Haha.

So yea, thanks again to all my reviewers, and I really am sorry (No not really...shifty eyes) about the late update!

Well then on with the story! It's a filler chapter...and it's pretty short...so yea...

**Disclaimer still in effect!**

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Ripple Effect

"Now? What? It's Sunday!" Peyton exclaimed. "We have school tomorrow. It's not like it'll take ten minutes to drive there and back. It'll take like…I don't know but it'll be a really long drive."

"Your point…" Brooke dragged out.

"We…have…school." Peyton explained slowly.

"Annnnnnd?" Brooke said childishly.

"School! That's the point!" Peyton said throwing up her arms in exasperation.

"Pfft. Who cares about school?" Brooke said rolling her eyes.

"Well…if we're going to be taking Haley along, she cares."

"No she won't. I'm going to be there too, duh!" Brooke said smiling and flashing her dimples. _Yep…I can totally keep her mind off of school for a few days…_

Peyton rolled her eyes as she began to pace the room. She had her hand up to her chin as if she were deep in thought. "Ok…let's say we go…and we convince Haley to come along." Peyton started while still pacing the room. "We're going to be missing school, so we're going to have to make it up once we get back…but to do so we have to have a legitimate reason to why we were gone or else they won't let us make up the work." Peyton continued in a mutter more to herself than to Brooke.

Brooke watched Peyton pace amusedly. "Wow. If Haley is ever sick you could be like…the Tutor Girl substitute or something…" Brooke mused.

Peyton stopped in the middle of the room and looked at Brooke. "Are you even listening to me?" Peyton asked incredulously.

"Yea yea, we're going to be missing school and all that. We can worry about that once we get back. Now…time to get packing. C'mon P Sawyer, get that ass into gear and pack your clothes!" Brooke said walking to Peyton's closet. She looked around and began throwing clothes over her shoulder which landed on Peyton's bed.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Peyton exclaimed rushing over to Brooke. Being the neat freak that she is, seeing her friend destroy her closet would of course send her into a stage of panic.

"I'm helping you pack you silly goose." Brooke replied like a mother to a child.

Peyton watched Brooke fling clothing after clothing onto her bed. After a few moments, Peyton spoke up. "…Brooke? How long do you think we're staying anyways?" Peyton asked as she saw the mountain of clothes on her bed. _Jeez, at this rate it'll be like moving over there._

"I don't know, where is Ellie anyways?" Brooke asked not looking at Peyton. She continued going through Peyton's clothes and finding things that were…acceptable to her standards. _Good god, you'd think that all these years of hanging out with me that she'd develop an extraordinary sense of style. I mean, look at me! I'm fabulous. _Brooke glanced at the mirror hanging on the closet door and smirked at herself. _Yes…yes I am… feeling narcissistic now are we? _Brooke's inner voice spoke up. Brooke shrugged mentally. _You know we're great...now…to get Haley to see that…_

"Umm…I don't remember…" Peyton replied trying to remember where she had located Ellie. "Hold on." Peyton went over to her computer to look it back up again. After a few minutes of searching through her files, she found it. "Hmm…would you look at that…she's in Columbus, Ohio." Peyton announced to Brooke.

"Ohio?" Brooke asked peering out of the closet to look at Peyton. "Why Ohio? It sounds so…boring." Brooke said trying to think of anything good that's in Ohio.

"Well it apparently is…" Peyton said looking at the computer screen. "According to some locals, 'This place sucks…it's so boring, sometimes I just feel like finding a sharp blade and with a flick of-" Peyton stopped reading mid-sentence realizing what she had been reading instead of the comments about Ohio. "- Oops never mind that was the wrong thing." Peyton quickly closed the web browser and looked nervously at Brooke to see if she had noticed. _Oh crap oh crap oh crap._

"What?" Brooke asked not really paying attention to her friend's sudden state of distress.

Peyton silently let out a sigh of relief. _Safe…for now. _"Nothing. I was just saying how boring Ohio is…"

"Damn right it is. I can't think of a single thing I've heard about Ohio…nope…nothing…" Brooke put her hand up to her chin to show that she was deep in thought. "Wait I think I heard something about a colonel and some… chicken? Oh wait nope…that was Kentucky…" Brooke continued to mutter to herself about the colonel's Kentucky fried chicken.

Peyton looked at Brooke in amusement. "Ok then…so Columbus is about 400 miles from here…and if we go at around 70 miles per hour then we should be there within 5-6 hours… keeping in mind that there might traffic of course… Oh wait what about gas stops and bathroom stops and all that… Hmm…" Peyton scratched her head in thought. "So if the car gets 38 miles a gallon…and it's 400 miles…" Peyton stopped to do some mental math calculations. "That's like…10 stops for gas…and each one will probably take around 10 minutes or so depending on what we do… So that's over an hour…so this whole trip should take about 7 hours to get there!" Peyton announced.

Brooke opened her mouth to say something but before she could Peyton cut in.

"Oh wait! I forgot about stopping for food and stuff…so that would take about another hour maybe? So…8 hours…yep…an 8 hour road trip…" Peyton declared feeling a sense of accomplishment. _Oh yea…I'm a total math whiz._

"…Are you done?" Brooke asked smirking.

Peyton a bit taken aback stuck her tongue out at Brooke. "Don't be jealous because I put my brain to use."

"Oh yea…your oh so sexy nerd brain." Brooke said rolling her eyes.

"Hey! Nerds are hot." Peyton defended herself.

"Nooooope." Brooke said wagging her finger at Peyton. "Smart people are hot, nerds…not so much." She explained to Peyton. "For example, you equal a nerd which equals not hot." Brooke pondered a moment about who to compare Peyton to. "But… Haley, she equals smart person which then equals hot." Came out of her mouth before she could stop it. Brooke looked at Peyton in horror hoping that she was going deaf.

Peyton's mouth dropped in surprise. "What did you say!" _Did she say what I think she said? _"Did you just-"

"Nothing! I said nothing!" Brooke said quickly hoping that Peyton would just drop it.

"Dude! You did!" Peyton said grinning now. "You totally have the hots for Tutor Girl! I knew it!" Peyton said giddily.

Brooke dropped her head in shame. But then realizing that Peyton was being merry she shot her head up in surprise. "Wait…you're not appalled at the fact that I like Haley…who is a girl?"

Peyton waved her hand at Brooke. "Pfft. Of course not! Well…I am appalled that you'd think I would be that close-minded…shame on you Brooke…" Peyton shook her head in disappointment.

Brooke was smiling now. "So…you're like ok with this?" Brooke asked wanting to be sure. _Of course she would…of all people she'd be the one that would approve…right?_

"Yup." Peyton said nodding her head vigorously. "Besides…remember the deal with Anna? She made a move on me and I was still cool with it…even though I didn't swing that way…" Peyton reminded Brooke.

_Wait…didn't? That's…past tense…meaning…_

There was a loud banging on the door followed by sounds of someone grunting on the other side.

"Stop Taylor! Let…them…talk!" Haley struggled to pull Taylor away from the door.

"It's been half an hour! That should be enough time to talk about whatever they're talking about!" Taylor resisted Haley's hold on her. She trudged back to the door.

Before Taylor could pound on the door again, it opened to reveal an amused looking Peyton.

"Pey Pey!" Taylor squealed. "Ok Haley…get…off!" Taylor broke free of Haley's embrace.

Haley let go of Taylor reluctantly. "Sorry guys…I tried to keep her away…" Haley said sheepishly. "But the thing is…she's sort of bigger than me and stuff…"

Taylor turned around quickly to look at Haley. "Excuse me?" Taylor walked towards Haley but before she could reach her, she ran for it.

Haley grinned at Taylor and ran into Peyton's room seeking Brooke. She spotted Brooke standing near the bed and ran towards her. Haley got behind her hoping that Brooke would protect her from Taylor.

"Get back here you big baby!" Taylor said as she chased Haley.

Peyton stood back to watch the sisters' antics. _Sheesh…if they're like this now then I wonder how they were when they were kids… _

Taylor stopped her pursuit of Haley when she noticed all the clothes on Peyton's bed. "This is what you guys were doing all this time? Organizing your clothes?" Taylor asked Brooke and Peyton.

"No silly!" Brooke replied bubbly. "I was helping Peyton pack!"

"Pack?" Haley asked. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh my god are you moving? Are you are you? And you weren't going to tell us!" Taylor asked looking at Peyton worriedly.

Peyton opened her mouth to reply but Brooke cut in.

"No…_we're_ going somewhere!" Brooke directed to Haley, then she turned to face Taylor. "And no your girlfriend isn't going anywhere, well…she is…well…we all are!"

Haley and Taylor looked at Brooke with confusion. "…And where are we going?" Haley asked.

"Road trip!" Brooke replied cheerily. She was still giddy over the fact of leaving Tree Hill for a few days.

Taylor's face lit up. "A road trip? Seriously! Fun!" She jumped up and down.

Brooke seeing Taylor's enthusiasm joined her in the jumping. "I know! We're going on a road trip!" Brooke exclaimed.

Haley started backing away from the duo for fear of getting hurt. She went over to stand by Peyton who looked at the other two amused. "Care to explain this road trip?" She asked Peyton.

"Ellie." Peyton just said. And that was all that was needed to be said because Haley got it right away.

"Oh…" Haley replied softly.

Brooke and Taylor calmed down enough to talk to the other to in a civilized manner.

"So where are we going?" Taylor asked.

"Oh yea, that's the down part of this road trip…we're going to…" Brooke paused for a dramatic effect. "Ohio."

"Ohio? What's in Ohio?" Taylor asked thinking.

"Exactly what I said!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Great minds think alike." Taylor said grinning.

Peyton and Haley snickered.

"Hey! You got something to say to us then say it to our faces." Brooke said fake glaring at them.

Taylor nodded in agreement.

"Oh no, we have nothing to say." Haley said stifling her laughter.

Peyton was doing the same but failing miserably. She burst into laughter causing Haley to do the same.

Brooke and Taylor were clearly offended so they grabbed some pillows and smacked them.

"S-Stop!" Haley called out in between laughs.

"Never!" Brooke and Taylor both cried.

Haley and Peyton both regained their composure and started fighting back. The girls were now having an all out pillow fight.

Peyton realized what they were doing and stopped quickly. "You guys stop! My pillows! You're ruining them!" Peyton tried in vain to stop the other girls. Haley was the first to obey but the other two kept going. "My room! You're messing it up!"

After a few more hits to the head, Brooke and Taylor stopped.

"Sheesh, anal much?" Taylor said to Peyton.

"Haha! You said 'anal'." Brooke giggled.

Taylor laughed. "I did! Hehe, anal…" Taylor broke into more laughter with Brooke doing the same.

Once again, Peyton and Haley regarded the other two girls with looks of confusion.

"I wonder what would happen if we were to leave them unsupervised…" Haley mused out loud.

"Apocalypse!" Peyton exclaimed then chuckled. Once the laughter had died down, the girls sat and looked at each other.

"So…this road trip…when are we going?" Haley asked breaking the silence.

"Right now!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Now?" Taylor asked repeating what Peyton had said earlier.

"Jeez, am I stuttering? Now!" Brooke said.

"But what about-" Haley was cut off by Brooke.

"Don't you say it Tutor Girl or I swear to God I will throw this pillow at you." Brooke threatened Haley.

"Do it!" Taylor squeaked. "Now you'll know how I feel." Taylor cackled.

"Say what?" Haley asked in confusion.

"Pfft, I know you were about to say something about school. Don't deny it!" Brooke said to Haley.

"Hmm…" Haley just shrugged and said nothing more.

"That's better." Brooke grinned.

"You are so whipped." Peyton said to Haley grinning.

Haley scoffed. "Am not!"

"Are too!" Peyton shot back.

"Peyton, shush." Taylor said.

Peyton shrugged and backed off Haley.

Brooke and Taylor then laughed at Peyton.

It took Peyton a few moments to get with it. Once she realized what had happened, she threw a pillow at Taylor.

Taylor tried dodging it but failed. "Again with the abusing me by throwing stuff!"

Peyton stuck her tongue out at Taylor.

"Ok but seriously Brooke…we're not leaving like right now are we?" Haley asked.

"Well not at this very moment in time but like today!" Brooke said. "See, nerdy Peyton here has it all figured out already. It'll take us like 8 hours or something, including all the breaks we'll take." Brooke explained to Haley what she and Peyton discussed earlier.

"Then we can't leave today." Taylor said. "It's already like 2."

Brooke checked her watch to see that Taylor was right. "Aw phooey, even if we were to pack really fast we won't get there until really late…"

"What a shame…we'll have to leave some other time then." Peyton said.

"Tomorrow then!" Brooke said cheerily.

"But tomorrow's Monday…we have school." Haley said.

Brooke threw a pillow at Haley. "I said not to say it! And besides…so what? We'll miss like…a week at most…and winter break starts next week anyways so it's all good."

Haley thought over what Brooke just said. "Yea…but we'll still miss a whole week's worth of work that we'll have to make up…"

"Actually…since it's the week before break I think all we're doing is watching movies…" Peyton said.

Haley opened her mouth to say something but closed it seeing that Peyton had a point. Sighing in defeat, Haley gave in. "All right…I guess we could leave tomorrow…"

Brooke jumped up happily. "Yay! Road trip tomorrow!"

_Oh joy…_

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I am so evil... this was the chapter where they're supposed to be on the road already... but I guess I changed my mind...

Meh, if you're wondering about the next chapter...it might take another week or so... but this time it's not school's fault...I just have no idea what's going to be in the next chapter so yea tis my own fault. Nope it's not a typo, I use the word 'tis'...don't judge me! ...Heh.

Review if you wish to!

And I shall see you all within a week!


	14. Die Young and Save Yourself

Heh. I'm back! It's been like...what 3 weeks since the last update? Haha...well at least it wasn't like a month... So what was my excuse last time? My PS2 I think? Heh well this time...it was school...and laziness...yep...yet another valid excuse from moi.

But I do apologize for the late update...I could've had this up sooner but well...yea...there's that whole lack of commitment thing...so yea...

Once again thank you to all my reviewers, you all rock!

Well then, onwards with the story!

**Disclaimer still in effect fools so don't bloody sue.**

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Ripple Effect

Brooke groaned as she sat up, silently cursing whatever woke her up. _I'm gonna kill whoever invented the sun…_ The girls had decided the day before that they would set off on the road trip that day, so they went their separate ways to pack up. They later met up back at the apartment so they could hang out. Peyton and Taylor happened to spend the night there so that take off would be easier the next day. Brooke looked around the room to see Peyton and Taylor getting a little close on the couch, then her eyes landed on Haley's sleeping form. With all thoughts of obliterating the sun gone, Brooke smiled unconsciously. Haley's lips were parted slightly, and her chest went up and down in rhythm with her breathing.

Brooke let her gaze wander down Haley's neck. It continued down south until Brooke mentally scolded herself. _Bad Davis! That is off-limits…until we get her approval…wait what? No! _Brooke tore her eyes from Haley and looked elsewhere. Her eyes landed on the clock on her dresser. _ 8:50? Oh no! We're late! _Brooke hurriedly got up from her sleep area and rushed to wake the others. She ran over to Taylor and Peyton and shook them. "Wake up! We're going to be behind schedule! Wake up wake up!"

"Huh what?" Taylor said sitting up disoriented. She felt a warm weight on half of her body and she got even more disoriented. _Oh crap…I didn't get drunk and hooked up with someone did I? _Taylor looked to see who was on her and saw a bundle of blonde hair.

Peyton was sprawled on the bed with half her body on Taylor's. Brooke had taken away the blankets in an attempt to wake her. Peyton shivered at the loss of heat, so she scooted closer to the only other source of heat- Taylor. Peyton cuddled into Taylor trying to get warm.

"This is no time to try and cop a feel Sawyer, wake up! Wake up damnit, wake up! You too Taylor! Wake up!" Brooke said to the two girls on the bed. _God…I'm working with a bunch of incompetent fools…_

Peyton sat up groggily at the sound of someone yelling. She opened her eyes to see who was doing the yelling but she was only greeted by the blinding light coming through the windows. "Ahh my eyes!" Peyton cried shielding her eyes with her arms. She groped around the bed trying to find something to duck under from the sunlight. Her hands landed on something soft. _What's this? It's so soft and…squishy? _Peyton opened her eyes to see what the object was. She saw Taylor sitting there with her hand over her mouth to try and stifle her laughter. Peyton looked down to see that her hand was on Taylor's chest.

Taylor burst out into laughter at Peyton's reaction. The blonde's eyes had widened and her cheeks reddened furiously. "Oh my god" Taylor got out in between her laughter. "This…this is just too good. You should see the look on your face. Priceless!"

Peyton was mortified at what she had unknowingly just groped. "Shut up! I didn't see what I was doing. It's that damn sun's fault…" Peyton tried defending herself.

"Yea…right. I knew you were trying to cop a feel all along…and now I have proof!" Taylor smirked.

Before Peyton could retaliate, Brooke cut in. "Now that you're awake, how about being of some usefulness?" Brooke called from the closet. "Go get dressed!" Brooke commanded.

"…Why?" Peyton asked confused at why Brooke was in such a hurry.

"The road trip! We're behind schedule as it is now go get dressed!" Brooke said rolling her eyes.

"Behind schedule? We have a schedule? When did this happen?" Taylor asked getting up from the bed.

"There's always been a schedule now go get dressed damnit!" Brooke repeated again.

"Why does Haley get to sleep still?" Peyton asked looking at Haley who was still asleep on the ground. _Unfair much?_

"I'll wake her, now go get dressed." Brooke replied emerging from the closet dressed and ready to go.

Peyton rolled her eyes as she headed for the bathroom to change, while Taylor looked around the room for clothes to change into.

Brooke walked over to Haley and gently nudged her. "Psst Haley, wake up." Haley stirred but didn't wake up. "Haley, wake up." Brooke tried again. After a few seconds Haley still didn't wake up. Brooke violently shook Haley by the shoulders. "Haley! Wake up!"

Haley sat up startled with a frightened look on her face. "What? No! Spare me!" Haley took a moment to look around her surroundings to make sure she wasn't being abducted. She saw Brooke kneeling in front of her with a confused look.

"What? I'm not abducting you…" Brooke said to Haley grinning slightly. _Although that wouldn't be such a bad idea…_

Haley then realized that she was safe and sound at her apartment and not in the hands of an unmerciful thief lord. "Stupid robbers… come into my dreams will ya…" Haley muttered under her breath.

"Umm…what?" Brooke asked confused.

"Oh um…nothing." Haley said to Brooke snapping back to reality.

"Good, now go get dressed, we're behind schedule." Brooke grinned at Haley.

"…What schedule?" Haley asked confused. _Schedule? School? What?_

"God what is with you James? The road trip!" Brooke said exasperated.

"But…we never made a schedule." Haley said thinking to when did they ever make a schedule for the road trip.

"Well we just did now go get dressed." Brooke said standing up and pulling Haley up with her. She gently pushed Haley towards the open bathroom.

"Can't I just wear this? I mean we'll just be in the car for like 8 hours. And wearing pajamas might be a lot comfier than like jeans or something." Haley said too lazy to change into something else. All she wanted to do was to go back to sleep.

Brooke stopped mid-step at what Haley had said. "Did you just say what I think you said? You want to wear pajamas…outside?" Shock was written all over Brooke's face as if wearing pajamas out of the house was a criminal offense.

"What's wrong with my pajamas?" Haley asked slightly hurt. _I love my Barbie PJs._

"Nothing…if you're inside. As cute as you look in those pajamas I cannot let you step foot outside in them. Now go and put on something…civil so we can go!" Brook pushed Haley inside the bathroom.

"But there's no clothes in the bathroom!" Haley called out to Brooke.

_Oh…right. _Brooke went to the closet on Haley's side of the room and looked for some clothes for her. She picked up some clothes that she had designed for her amateur clothing line. She went over to the bathroom and opened the door to hand Haley the clothes. Little did she know Haley was planning to take a shower so she had stripped down to her undergarments. When Brooke opened the door Haley screeched.

"Brooke!" Haley said grabbing a towel to conceal herself.

Brooke closed her eyes and stuck her hand out with the clothes. "Ah sorry! I didn't see anything! Here are umm…the clothes…"

Haley hastily grabbed the clothes from Brooke and closed the door once Brooke's arm was out of the way. "Next time, knock!"

Brooke just smirked on the other side. "Will do. Why were you in your bra anyways? You said there weren't any clothes in there."

"I was going to take a shower." Haley replied from the other side of the door.

"Oh well no time Tutor Girl. Just put on the clothes and brush your hair and stuff because we have to go!" Brooke reminded Haley. "Speaking of which…" Brooke muttered to herself as she looked around for Taylor and Peyton. "Taylor! Peyton! Where the hell are you two?" Brooke called out as she walked out into the living room. "I swear to God if you two aren't dressed and ready to go you will feel my wrath!" Brooke threatened.

Peyton and Taylor were sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV when Brooke walked in with her threats. "Hollow threats? That's a new low even for you Brookie…" Peyton said smirking.

Brooke just glared at her but she let it go since she was dressed and ready to go. "Ok we're all dressed…well almost." Brooke remembered that Haley is still getting dressed in the bathroom. "Now…we just need to get the necessary road trip supplies, fill up the car, and go!" Brooke said giddily going through her mental check list.

Peyton just looked at Brooke in fascination. "Why are you so pumped up about this? Shouldn't it be me since it's a road trip to find Ellie?"

"Yes it should be you! But since you're being weird and…broody so I'll just have to be pumped up for both of us! Taylor can be pumped up for herself and Haley." Brooke looked at Taylor grinning.

"What about me?" Haley asked as she stepped out into the living room wearing the blue jump suit Taylor had modeled the other day.

"Nothing nothing." Brooke said trying to get the road trip on its way already.

"Alrighty…so why am I wearing your jump suit?" Haley asked. "Am I supposed to be a walking ad?"

"Eh more or less." Brooke shrugged.

Haley scoffed slightly offended. "I knew it. You were just using me for this body all along weren't you?"

Peyton, Taylor and Brooke looked at Haley in surprise.

"…What?" Haley asked confused. _What did I do?_

"Wow…never expected that kind of comment from you of all people…" Peyton said in astonishment. _She's finally breaking out of her shell… _"Tsk tsk…you corrupted her didn't you Brooke?"

Brooke mocked surprise. "Moi? I wouldn't corrupt anybody! I'm the perfect little girl!"

"Yea, and I'm just oozing with joy and excitement." Peyton said rolling her eyes.

"Ok enough with the banter kiddies!" Taylor cut in before Brooke could retaliate. "Jeez, I have no idea why I'm even tagging along on this road trip."

"You know you love us." Brooke grinned flashing her dimples. "And yes the road trip, thank you for reminding me, let's freaking go already!"

"What about breakfast?" Haley whined as her stomach grumbled from lack of food.

Brooke sighed as she walked into to grab a bunch of cereal bars which she threw at Haley. "There problem solved. Now let's go people!" Brooke said as she headed for the door with bags in her hand.

_Jeez…she's pretty prepared… _Haley thought as she followed suit with cereal bars in hand.

Taylor and Peyton followed and they all walked to the cars to see Brooke standing there with a perplexed look on her face.

"Brooke?" Haley asked snapping Brooke away from her train of thought.

"Hmm?" Brooke asked looking at Haley.

"…Something wrong?" Haley questioned concerned.

"Yea…shouldn't you be like jumping for the car right now?" Taylor said smirking.

"I would…if I knew which car we were taking…" Brooke trailed off as she thought about whether to take her car or Peyton's. _Hmm…mine might be too small…but if we take Peyton's car then she'll be driving…and if she's driving then we might not make it back to Tree Hill in one piece…_

"I thought we were taking mine?" Peyton asked. "Ya know…since our bags are already in the trunk?"

"Oh…right…" Brooke said remembering what they had decided the day before. Brooke and Peyton had had a long discussion…or argument on whose car to take and who was driving. After a while Brooke just succumbed and let Peyton have her way…just this once. "But what if it rains?" Brooke said suddenly. "Your car is a convertible…"

"Yea…and it also has a top that retracts…" Peyton said pointing to the back of the car.

"Oh…right…" Brooke repeated her earlier words. _Damnit. I really want to drive now… _The girls all got into the car, with Peyton in the front for she was driving, and Taylor next to her. Brooke and Haley were in the back with Brooke's multiple bags. Peyton started the car and pulled out of the parking spot and got on the road. "Oh um Peyt?" Brooke asked. "Just try not to kill us."

Peyton rolled her eyes. "I'm a great driver and you know it." Peyton said not taking her eyes off the road. She had gotten on to the highway now and she needed to stay focused.

"Oh yea…and those speeding tickets must be your awards of excellence for your superior driving skills." Brooke replied smirking.

Peyton looked at Brooke in the rearview mirror and stuck her tongue out at Brooke. "Who has the map?" she asked glancing around the car to see where the map was.

"I don't know." Taylor mumbled and looked in the back to see if Brooke knew where the map was.

"Don't look at me I don't have the map." Brooke said checking the seats to see if it was around there.

"Fantastic. We're on a road trip…without a map." Peyton said sarcastically from the front of the car.

"Oh I found it!" Brooke squealed pulling something from under Haley. "Pfft, it was under Haley's ass." Brooke said handing the map up to Peyton.

Peyton raised her eyebrow. "…Do I even want to touch it now?"

"Hey!" Haley called from the back smacking Peyton on the head.

Peyton laughed. "Watch it! I'm driving here! One more move like that and we could all die." Peyton warned them.

"Yea no seriously." Taylor said pulling her seatbelt on. "I'm way too young to die."

"You young? What about us?" Haley asked putting her seatbelt on as well.

"Pfft, my name is the only one they'd mention in the obituary anyways." Taylor replied grinning.

Haley just rolled her eyes and didn't bother to respond. Soon the whole car was in an awkward silence. Then the car started swerving randomly. The girls looked at Peyton and Peyton was looking at the map and she didn't have her hands on the steering wheel.

"Peyton!" Brooke, Haley, and Taylor called out.

"What?" Peyton asked looking at them over the map.

"Drive!" they all yelled.

Remembering that she was in a car, Peyton hurriedly discarded the map and focused back on the road. A few more seconds, and they would've hit a truck ahead of them. Peyton and the rest of the girls let out a sigh of relief.

"What the hell!" Brooke asked as soon as her heartbeat was back to normal. "You could've killed us all!"

"Sorry…" Peyton said sheepishly. "I was looking at the map… I have no idea where we're supposed to go…"

"We won't have anywhere to go if you keep driving like that." Taylor said clutching onto the seatbelt for dear life.

"I said I was sorry ok? Someone needs to be in charge of the map because I don't know where we're going."

"Give it to Taylor, since she's in the front she can see the signs and stuff." Haley said not wanting to get into a car accident.

Taylor grabbed the map and opened it up. "…How do you read this thing?" she asked looking at the map confused.

"Look for a dot that says Wilmington. We should be around there." Peyton instructed.

"Wilmington…Wilmington…" Taylor muttered as she scanned the map for the dot. "Oh! I found it!" Taylor squeaked.

"Good…now what interstate is it on?" Peyton asked Taylor as if she were talking to a child.

"…Interstate? This thing has interstates on it?" Taylor asked looking at Peyton.

Brooke and Haley snickered from the back of the car.

"Hey you guys want to do this?" Taylor said looking back at them. Haley and Brooke both shook their heads. "Thought so."

"Look for a shield-like blue box on the map that has a number on it." Peyton said to Taylor. "And hurry, we're nearing an exit and I don't know if I'm supposed to go on it or not."

"Umm…" Taylor tried to decipher the symbols on the map. "Umm…it says I-94."

"Hmm…ok…" Peyton said with her eyes still on the road.

"Are we going the right way?" Brooke asked.

"Yep…now we just have to stay on this road for like 4 hours or something…" Peyton said.

"How fun." Haley said sarcastically.

"It's times like these that I wished we had one of those SUVs with the TVs in them…" Brooke mused out loud.

"Yea…what the hell are we supposed to do for the next 4 hours?" Taylor asked getting fidgety already.

And with that Brooke smirked.

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Haha finally! They're finally on the freakin' road! So yea that's like my way of saying sorry for the lack of updates.

Alright firstly, I have no idea where Tree Hill is located...so I just stuck them near the coastline in North Carolina. So um yea...sorry if I butchered it up...

Second...I just realized that the characters are starting to get a little out of character...so yea...I apologize for that too. I'll try to keep them in character...because I usually hate it when they're OOC...so yea...

Third...sigh The next update...I really have no idea when that'll be...I'll try to keep it within a month...I can't make any promises though. I'm trying to end this within the next few chapters because I just don't have what it takes to keep writing anymore. There's too much pressure! Bah!

As usual...there's no fourth...

Review if you want to make me less emo!

And I shall see you all within a month! ...Haha it first started off within a day, then a week, now it's a month. What'll be next, a year? Heh. Ok...I'm done...


	15. Words Don't Go in Mouths

Oh em gee. Look...I'm back! Heh, I bet you all I thought I died or something... well unfortunately I'm still alive, so that means another installment of...Ripple Effect dun dun dunnnnnnn.

Well anyways sorry about this super late update... it's been like over a month... I had a reason though...I've had to deal with uh...issues...yes...let's just leave it at that... But hey, at least I updated right? I'll have you know I actually strapped myself to the chair for four hours just to get this chapter out...I'm so proud of myself... heh. I would've made this chapter longer to make up for the late update but the restraints were getting loose...so yea...

So as always, thanks a ton-er-riffic for the reviews! You people rock hard...no wait...hard is a bad word... umm... you're all awesome! Well then, on with the freakin' chapter eh?

**Disclaimer is still in effect, I own nothing!**

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Ripple Effect

Haley looked at Brooke in horror. _I know that look…she only gets like that when she wants some or she's up to something…and it's most likely the latter since she's in a car full of girls…_

"What?" Brooke said pulling Haley out of her reverie.

Haley shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts. "What what?"

"Don't you 'what what' me, you had that…look." Brooke said raising her eyebrow.

"Me? You're the one who looks like they're about to get laid!" Haley said innocently.

An awkward silence doused the car. Brooke looked at Haley with her eyebrow still raised, Taylor turned to the back of the car to give Haley an amused look, and Peyton looked at Haley through the rearview mirror.

Haley first looked at Brooke confusedly, then to the front of the car, then back at Brooke. _They're doing that thing again… _"What? You guys are all being weird again…" Haley said full of confusion.

Peyton just shook her head as she turned her attention back to the road. "Brooke…you really did corrupt her…" she said smirking slightly. _Or was it Taylor? I mean they are related… But then again this didn't happen until Haley moved in with Brooke… But- _Before Peyton could continue her internal debate over the cause of Haley's corruption, she was interrupted.

"I take offense to that!" Brooke scoffed. "It was probably Taylor's messed up genes that's making Haley be all…non-Tutor Girl."

Taylor shot back a mock glare at Brooke. "Oh yeah? Well she's the one who has to live with you!" Taylor said haughtily.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Brooke asked seething.

"Oh you know very well what I mean." Taylor shot back at Brooke.

Sensing some serious tension, Peyton decided to pull into the next rest stop. If Taylor and Brooke were to get into an all out fight, she'd want the officials to know that they killed each other…not her driving skills. She parked the car in a shady area at a rest stop near Dansville which was on the border of Virginia and proceeded to watch Brooke and Taylor.

All the while Haley just looked at her sister and Brooke who were apparently fighting. She tried to figure out how their playful banter turned into a verbal catfight.

"No, I _don't_ know what you mean." Brooke spat out at Taylor.

"Figures…seems like you don't know a lot of things." Taylor said while donning a smirk feeling she had the upper hand now.

Haley intervened before things could escalate any further. "Ok time out. What the hell is wrong with you two?" Haley asked looking between the two.

"She started it." Brooke and Taylor immediately responded.

Peyton smirked at Brooke and Taylor's childlike behavior. Even though her best friend had gotten into a little spat with Haley's older sister, the blonde chose to remain a silent watcher. _I should probably like…defend her or something… _Peyton thought to herself but then decided that Brooke would probably have been irked if she were to interfere.

"No, you did!" Brooke and Taylor replied simultaneously once again.

"Ah, stop it!" Haley exclaimed. "I swear you two are like…" Haley paused a moment to think of what to say so she wouldn't be subject to Brooke and Taylor's attacks. "Umm… aha! Boo Radley!" Haley said triumphantly while inwardly grinning at her allusion.

Brooke and Taylor looked at Haley with confused looks while Peyton raised her eyebrow at Haley. "Hales…did you just seriously make a reference to To Kill A Mockingbird?" Peyton asked stifling her laughter.

"Well it's true right? I mean Brooke and Taylor look pretty harmless to normal civilians like Boo would, but really, on the inside they're just full of this…untapped energy and if they were agitated enough…they'd both stab us with scissors!" Haley said while waving her arms around for emphasis.

"Oh my god! You did! You did reference it!" Peyton exclaimed and then laughed. "You…nerd!" Peyton said in between her laughter. _And Brooke was giving me a hard time about being able to do math…in my head._

Brooke and Taylor were still unusually quiet due to their confusion. "Um, hello? Like we're still here." Brooke said speaking up. _Rude much?_

"Yea..." Taylor said still confused. "So what's this about a…Boo? What? What is that some ghetto guy's girl?" Taylor asked trying to clear up the confusion. _Yea…It probably is…Like Nelly and them…_

It was now Haley and Peyton's turns to look at Taylor and Brooke weirdly. "Ok, Taylor I can understand forgetting, but Brooke?" Peyton asked. "I mean we did spend a few weeks covering that book… and I'm pretty sure you guys covered it when you were still in school Taylor…"

"…What?" Brooke and Taylor asked in chorus and then looked at each other. "Stop it!" Brooke and Taylor resolved to glare at each other for a moment for if they were to say something else, they feared it'd be the same thing. Before either girl could make up their minds on what to say next, Haley stepped in once again.

"Ok seriously stop it! What is with you two today?" Haley asked looking between the two so they wouldn't glare anymore, or so she hoped.

"As I said before, she started it." Brooke replied coolly while still giving Taylor a menacing glare.

"Start what? First you two were being all…I don't know flirty then you're at each other's necks." Haley said to the two.

"Flirty? Pfft, she'd probably die happy the day I flirt with _her_." Brooke scoffed and smirked at Taylor. _Besides, she's the wrong James. _

Taylor looked at Brooke with a raised eyebrow. "Did she just-" Taylor was cut off before she could finish what she had to say.

"Uh uh, no, stop whatever you were going to say. No more fights." Haley tried giving Brooke and Taylor the most stern look she could muster, but she just ended up looking like she needed to learn control over her eyebrows. _Up more? Down? One up? Which looks like I mean authorial? _Haley looked over at Peyton for some assistance but the blonde just smirked at her.

Taylor shrugged and leaned back in her seat and decided to let the issue drop for now. _Yea right, like I'd want to flirt with her. Besides, she's the wrong cheerleader._

Haley saw that Taylor finally gave up with pestering Brooke and let out a sigh of relief. "Ok, thank you. But seriously though, how the hell do you go from happy-go-lucky to rawr?" Haley asked while making a cat-like sound to emphasize her 'rawring'.

"No Haley! Stop." Peyton said quickly. "You finally got them calm…just drop it dude."

_Oh…right…_ Haley thought to herself. She just shrugged and then looked at Brooke and then Taylor. Apparently she really wanted to know.

Brooke and Taylor shrugged as they thought back to what led to their verbal bashing. "Well…" Brooke started, "it had something to do with Taylor's genes…"

"And something about moving in with Brooke…" Taylor added. Then it clicked. Both girls remembered what triggered the seemingly friendly banter that soon turned into a brawl.

"You!" Brooke and Taylor said at the same time while looking at Haley.

"Me?" Haley asked while looking at the two skeptically.

"Yea you." Taylor said.

"Yea, you were the one that said something about someone getting laid and all that jazz." Brooke explained.

"Yea, what she said." Taylor added.

"What, am I not allowed to say stuff like that?" Haley asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"No, it's not like that, it's just that…you usually don't say stuff like that…" Taylor said as her voice trailed off.

"Yea, the sexual innuendos are usually our things." Brooke said while taking note of the change in Haley's voice. _Oh crap, she's pissed…_

"Your things?" Haley asked as her anger still rose without her knowing it.

"Well it's not like you ever make those kinds of jokes and-" Brooke was cut off abruptly by Haley.

"So you're just pretty much inferring that without you two around, I wouldn't know how to make those kinds of jokes? Then you're pretty much saying that I can't think for myself." And with that, Haley got up and left the car and walked over to a nearby picnic table.

"No Haley wait!" Brooke called out but Haley had already left. _Damnit. Good going Davis… wait…when did we park?_

"…How long have we been parked here?" Brooke asked Peyton.

"Eh since you and Taylor started going all…" Peyton paused to think of something good to compare Brooke and Taylor's fight to. "…Eh, I got nothing, but you know what I mean."

"Right…" Taylor said while looking out the car at Haley. She began to open the door but Brooke stopped her.

"No, I'll go talk to her, this is pretty much my fault…" Brooke said trailing off as she got out of the car.

"Damn right it is!" Taylor said loud enough so that Brooke could hear her.

"Dude…don't you think you've caused enough of chaos today?" Peyton asked as she smirked at Taylor.

"Well…I wouldn't oppose to causing some more." Taylor looked at Peyton and moved her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Peyton rolled her eyes. "How can you still be doing that? Look at your little sister out there!" Peyton said as she directed her hand to where Brooke was walking towards.

Taylor looked at Haley and her face fell. "Yea… shouldn't I be the one comforting Haley instead of Brooke? I mean I am her sister and all…" Taylor trailed off.

"Maybe…maybe not. Let's see how Brooke does… I mean she's kept me from brooding for days at a time, that's gotta count for something right?" Peyton said with a small chuckle to try and lighten the mood.

Haley was sitting on a picnic table with her legs on the seats, her arms on her knees, and her head resting on her hand. Haley didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling. Anger that her friends and sister to think of her like that, or sadness that they'd think of her like that. But what 'that' was, Haley didn't know.

Brooke walked over to the table and sat near Haley. Brooke looked at the side of Haley's face but the other girl didn't turn to meet her gaze. "Look Haley-" Brooke started.

"Is that how you guys really see me as?" Haley asked still not looking at Brooke.

Brooke sighed and looked away from Haley. "Ok so the thing is…I don't like change. I like for things to be constant in my life, because it's all I know of… And well ever since we became friends, you've been like my Haley ya know? My little sweet innocent Haley and well I just don't want that to change…" Brooke's voice trailed off.

Upon hearing Brooke's little confession, Haley's face lit up and she smiled weakly. _Did she say 'my Haley'? …There might be a chance after all… _Haley leaned her head on Brooke's shoulder. "Thanks…" she whispered.

Brooke's body froze upon contact from Haley. Her head couldn't comprehend what was going on so she just sat there. _Do…something…_

Haley felt Brooke tense up when she leaned on her so she sat straight up. "C'mon, we should go." Haley said as she got off the picnic table and started walking back to the car. _Good job…now she's probably freaked out…_

Back in the car, Taylor and Peyton were trying to see what Brooke and Haley were talking about. "You know…you'd think this would be an invasion of privacy…" Peyton said as she tried to make out what the two girls outside were saying.

"Of course not. I'm Hales older sis, this is a given right." Taylor boasted as she squinted to see Brooke's reaction when Haley leaned on her.

"Ok then…" Peyton looked at Taylor and then rolled her eyes. _Why I go for the weird ones, I'll never know… _ "It's times like these that I wished I knew how to read lips…" Peyton said as she finally gave up on trying to spy on her friends.

"Well…" Taylor dragged out the word. "You can read _my_ lips if you want," she said suggestively while openly eyeing Peyton.

Peyton just stared at Taylor in disbelief. "Wow, this is almost worse than hanging out with a guy," she said rolling her eyes.

"You know you love it." Taylor said grinning.

"Note the key word: almost." Peyton said.

"See? You do love hanging out with me!" Taylor said giddily.

Peyton rolled her eyes and grinned at Taylor. Her grin disappeared once she saw Haley going back towards the car, but with Brooke still at the table. Peyton just shrugged it off thinking it wasn't a very big deal.

Brooke was still zoned out when Haley had left the picnic table. When she finally felt the absence of heat from Haley's body Brooke snapped back to reality. She looked around to where Haley had went and followed her. By the time Brooke got back to the car, Peyton started it back up.

"Now that you kiddies have kissed and made up, we really need to get back on the road." Peyton said as she pulled out of the lot.

"What? We just talked." Haley said as she looked out the window and not at Brooke.

"Yea…talked…" Brooke said in a daze as she tried to catch Haley's gaze. _Great…strike two…_

"Yea whatever." Taylor replied dismissively.

"Before I pull out of this godforsaken rest stop, does anybody need to take care of anything?" Peyton asked as she was about to pull back onto the highway. "Seriously, once we get out there, I'm not stopping. We have some lost time to make up for." Peyton said in all seriousness as she looked at the other girls.

"Eh I'm fine…no strike that, I'm better than fine, I'm-" Taylor was cut off before she could finish what she was saying.

"Ok stop right there. We really don't need to hear you brag about how hot you are." Peyton said.

Taylor raised her eyebrow at her. "You think I'm hot?"

"…I didn't say that." Peyton said lamely. "Don't put words in my mouth."

"Hmm…mouths…putting things in them…" Taylor mused out loud.

"Stop!" Peyton said with wide eyes. "That…is very disturbing. And I'm pretty sure Haley doesn't want to hear that kind of stuff, right Hales?" Peyton asked the girl in the backseat.

"Nope…not at all…" Haley said distractedly as she continued staring out the window.

"Oh well, your loss!" Taylor said grinning. "Besides, it's not like you can keep me quiet the whole trip!" she said as her grin turned devious.

"That's it, I'm going back to that rest stop for some duct tape." Peyton said in a serious tone.

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Hmm...yes...I dislike that cut off...but it was the best I could do at midnight. Well then that's one down and two more to go...chapters that is...

Alright let's get serious for a second. How in the hell did I just write like 7 pages of stuff that probably just took like half an hour... I mean really...that is really messed up...it's moving so slow!

Well you're just dying to know when I'll update again huh? Well... a month? and a half? I'm going to be pretty busy this month with school and all that so yea...it might take a little while for the next chapter...sorry folks.

So yea...review if you feel like it...

"Now I say good day...I said good day!" --- A total Fez moment...


	16. Biiiiig Motha' Truckas'

Whoaaaaa. HELLO! Remember me? Huh huh huh? Do ya peoples?! Well... I'm back yo'. After what... like 10 months of hiatus? I swear I didn't mean to hold off updating for so long... I blame that one reviewer who was all like, "Don't go on hiatus for a year or something..." Dude. You totally jinxed me. Not cool. Anyways, after months and months of busy work and procrastination... I've decided to at least update once before the year is over.

So here it is. The next chapter. Think of it as a Christmas present or whatever.

Oh yes, before I forget, once again thanks a ton to all those who actually take the time to review. You people make me happy... in the pants. Yesssss. You rock. And I guess thanks to those who sent sorta threatening-ish e-mails trying to get me to update. Meh. I would've called all your bluffs anyways.

Oh, and one more thing. I know there are like a million and one errors. But I'm too lazy to edit it and too cocky for a beta reader. So suck it up and take it like a man.

**Disclaimer: It's nearing Christmas, and I'd ask for Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton to be under my tree... but alas that'll never happen. Just like I'll never own anything that has to do with One Tree Hill and its affiliates and all that jazz. But who knows. 'Tis the season. But anyways, I don't own anything as per usual.**

* * *

After Peyton's threat of binding Taylor with duct tape, Taylor agreed to remain civil for the remainder of the trip. A few more hours into the trip and the car was doused with an eerie silence. Taylor had gotten bored with bugging Peyton so she decided to keep up her end of the deal for the time being. Haley stared out of her window the whole time, ignoring Brooke. And Brooke mentally cursed herself for making Haley feel rejected.

Brooke lightly hit her head on the window, scolding herself with each hit to the glass. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! _She glanced over at Haley and saw that she was resting her chin on her arm and looking out the window with a blank stare.

Peyton quickly glanced around the car discreetly for she was driving. The silence was beginning to become too much for her, in fact, her eye was starting to twitch from her frustration.

Taylor glanced over at Peyton to see her clutching the steering wheel a bit too tightly causing her knuckles to whiten and her eye having spasms. Taylor raised her eyebrows at Peyton's odd behavior. "Do you not like the drivers in front of us or something?"

"What?" Peyton snapped back at Taylor a bit too quickly.

Taylor's eyebrows raised themselves a bit further. "O-o-o-o k then," Taylor dragged out with a grin. _Definitely road rage… _

"I-I mean, what about the people in front?" Peyton asked in a calmer tone. She desperately wanted someone to just talk. The silence was becoming to much for her to bear. _Or maybe you just want to listen to Taylor talk… What? No. Shut up. …But you just said you wanted someone to talk… Yea, but not myself!_

"Nothing, nothing," Taylor replied with her grin still plastered on her face. "Um, just make note of that 'Baby on Board' sticker on the car in front of us…," the blonde trailed off at the end._ Ya know… just in case you decide to ram into them or something like that..._

Peyton snapped out of her inner conversation and looked at the yellow sticker on the car in front and looked back at the older girl. "So?"

Taylor's eyes widened at Peyton's blatant reply. "What do you mean 'so'?"

"What do you mean 'what do you mean'?" Peyton asked childishly, though it wasn't meant to come out as such. _So there's a baby in the damn car. What does that have to do with anything?_

Taylor stared at Peyton in disbelief. _She wouldn't actually ram into a car with a baby inside… would she? _Of all the people Taylor has had an interest in, not one of them have been cold-blooded-baby-ramming-road-ragers. "There's a baby… in the car…" Taylor said slowly hoping to get through Peyton's seemingly thick head.

"Annnd?" Peyton asked rolling her eyes. _Yea there's a baby, haven't we been through this? _Peyton was now aggravated about the pointless baby question. But at least her annoyance at the silence dispersed for the time being.

"What do you mean 'and'?" Taylor semi-mimicked her earlier reply to the younger blonde.

"What do you mean 'what do you mean'?" Peyton repeated. _Whoa, déjà vu… _ Peyton scrunched her face in confusion. _That was all too familiar…_

Taylor saw the lost look on Peyton's face and became worried. _Oh crap… there better not be something wrong with the car or something… _"What's with you?"

"Nothing nothing," Peyton answered absentmindedly. "it's just that I could've sworn I heard someone say something exactly like that…" Somewhere deep in her head, Peyton's inner mind was rolling its eyes at her… that or it was dying of laughter.

Taylor looked at Peyton incredulously. _You have got to be kidding… _"A-Are you serious?"

"Aren't I always serious?" Peyton said without missing a beat.

At this point, Taylor was getting a tad bit worried. "You're um… you're not on any medication are you?" She asked hesitantly. _And if you're not then you probably should be…_

"No…," Peyton answered confusedly, "why would I be?" After a moment of thinking Peyton came to some farfetched conclusions. "Are you trying to imply something?!"

Taylor took on a look of mock surprise at Peyton's accusation. "Me? Why I never!"

Peyton narrowed her eyes at the older girl. "I've got my eyes on you…"

_You and everyone else_. Taylor smirked to herself. _She so wants me._ "Of course you do… but you just might want to keep your eyes on the road hon." Taylor pointed out seeing how Peyton hadn't returned her gaze to the traffic ahead. She noticed that while they were talking, Peyton's grip on the steering wheel had slackened, and it looked like they were crossing into the lane of oncoming traffic.

Before Peyton could retort with a witty reply, she heard a loud honking noise in front of her. Time seemed to slow as Peyton looked back in front of her. Their car was heading towards a massive truck, or the truck was heading for them. Either way, they would be crushed soon unless Peyton could steer the car away from the speeding truck fast enough. But when she tried to move her arms it felt like they were suddenly full of lead.

"Peyton! Peyton!"

The blonde could barely make out the sounds of someone screaming her name. She willed her arms to turn the steering wheel. _C'mon, c'mon, DO SOMETHING! _Before Peyton could react, a pair of arms reached over and did what Peyton was thinking; turned the steering wheels.

Time sped back up as the car swerved into the shoulder and went off the road into the rural countryside. Peyton hadn't taken her foot off the gas so the car continued to roll on in the field of grass, and this time, they headed straight for a tree.

"Peyton! Get with it damnit!" a frantic voice shouted from somewhere behind her.

This time Peyton snapped out of the void in her mind and slammed her foot on the brake. _Oh shit. _The back wheels locked and somehow, the car managed to skid even though they were in a meadow full of grass. Peyton quickly turned the wheels into the direction of the skid in hopes of dodging the tree. The car narrowly missed the tree and skidded to a jolting halt in front of what looked like an old broken-down shack.

The occupants of the car sat in silence but not for long.

"What… the… HELL!" Taylor screeched at Peyton instead of asking if everyone was alright like a good Samaritan. "We could've died damnit!"

Taylor's words barely registered in Peyton's head. _I… I almost killed us… _Peyton may have been an emo kid at heart but dieing young is surely not something she'd want happening anytime soon. Despite all the flaws and crap she has to go through, it's her life, and there's not much she could do about it.

Before Taylor had the chance to try and blame Peyton for their near death experience, Brooke stepped in. "God, shut up! It's not like she was doing it on purpose." she defended her friend. Brooke got out of the car, opened the door to the driver's side, and pulled Peyton out.

Peyton could feel someone's thin arms tugging her out somewhere. She felt weightlessness. It felt like she was floating in a way. _Wait… I'm still alive right? Right. _Peyton tried to reassure herself.

Brooke dragged her best friend towards a tree and sat her down beside it. She looked into Peyton's eyes but all she could see was an eerie emptiness. She placed a comforting hand on Peyton's shoulder. "Hey P. Sawyer, you in there?"

Peyton snapped back to reality at the use of her nickname. "Brooke?"

"The one and only." Brooke said with a grin. "So," she started, "what happened back there?"

"I… I don't know," the blonde replied shakily.

"Peyton… you're not going all 'oh-I'm-so-sad-and-emo-I'm-going-to-kill-myself-just-you-wait-and-see-haha-in-your-face-suckas' on me are you?" Brooke asked sadly. She enveloped Peyton in a tight hug. "Cause I love ya, you know?"

Peyton let out a grunt of a chuckle. "No Brooke, I'm not. Besides, if I was going to go all suicidal-y, I'm not going to do it with you and Haley… and Taylor in the car…"

"Good, 'cause ya know… it'd be a shame for a car-full of such young hotties like ourselves to bite the dust." Brooke said as she let go of Peyton from her embrace.

Peyton started to cheer up. "Too true. Or…" Peyton stopped to think of what to say, "maybe you just don't want to die before you get a chance to hit on Haley!"

"Psh," Brooke scoffed at her friend. "I've hit on her plenty."

"You'll hit on anybody Brooke." Peyton pointed out.

"And your point?"

"My point is that maybe she's not taking it seriously because you hit on everybody jokingly or not." Peyton explained. "I mean you probably could've gotten into her pants by now yo'." she added playfully.

Brooke gasped. "Haley is a lady and will not be spoken of in such a manner!" she smacked Peyton's arm.

Peyton let out a cry of pain. "Jeez, can't take a joke now can we?" she said as she rubbed her arm.

Brooke just "Hmphed" at her and stood up. "C'mon," she offered her hand to Peyton, "we should get going now."

Peyton shrugged and grabbed Brooke's frail looking hand.

----------

Taylor and Haley were left alone in the car when Brooke dragged Peyton away from Taylor's wrath.

"You really shouldn't have snapped at Peyton like that…" Haley said to her sister.

Taylor sighed. "Yeah I know… but I just…" she stopped to think to herself. "I don't wanna die ya know? Well, at least not yet."

Haley raised her eyebrow at Taylor. "You're afraid of death?"

"Well, not so much afraid as much as just wanting to procrastinate it. There are still things I want to do ya know? I guess that's why I got all mega-bitch on Peyton. She almost took away my chance to do all the things I've wanted to do."

"Like?"

Taylor shrugged. "I don't know. Own a llama farm?"

Haley looked at the older girl skeptically. "Right… So you snapped at Peyton 'cause she almost by accident, might I point out, took away your dreams of owning a llama farm?"

"Exactly!" Taylor exclaimed. "But whatever. For all you know I could've lashed out on her 'cause I just don't plain like her." _Psh. Yeah right._

Haley laughed at her. "Really? 'Cause from the vibes that I've been getting it seems that you like her… a lot."

"Vibes? And when, dear ol' baby sister, did you get a gaydar?" Taylor questioned with a smile.

Haley looked taken aback. "Gaydar? Who said anything about gaydars and gay-ness in general? What? Psh. Crazy lady," she said quickly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, someone was singing "Denial" at her.

Taylor smirked. "C'mon, admit Hales!" She twisted around the passenger seat to poke Haley. "You know you want to, admit it!"

"Admit what?" Haley asked confused.

"Agh, you're killin' me! You're really killin' me!" Taylor said exasperatedly. She got out of the car and stretched her legs.

Haley followed out of the car to ask what Taylor was talking about. _Admit what? I have nothing to hide or admit or whatever! _

"Oooh, lookie, a shack!" Taylor exclaimed to Haley as she pointed at a shabby looking shack.

Haley noticed a cut out half moon shape on the door of the so called shack. "Um Taylor… I don't think that's a shack…"

Taylor ran off towards the shack disregarding Haley's words. She opened the door but before she could even run inside, she was hit with a rank smell of what seemed like human excrement. Taylor screamed as she realized what she was smelling. She ran around in circles as if trying to get rid of the smell.

At this time, Brooke and Peyton were back from their little talk. Peyton looked at Taylor then at Haley expecting some sort of explanation.

"She thought it was a shack." Haley said simply.

Peyton nodded. "I see…"

Brooke laughed at Taylor. "Dude!" she called out to the older girl. "That wasn't a shack, it's a freaking outhouse!"

Taylor stopped her running and stomped back towards the other girls. She glared at them as if blaming them for there being an outhouse there. "Well gee thanks. I know that now, God!"

* * *

Meh. And that's chapter 16. Should've/could've been longer. But if I spent any more time on it then I probably wouldn't have updated till like... forever man...

Anyways, I'm not even going to bother trying to guestimate when I'll next update.

So yeah, review if you want to be someone who makes me happy in the pants! Or not... 'cause let's face it... that's kinda creepy dude.

Well then, **happy holidays** or Merry Chrismakkuh or whatever it is that you celebrate! And I shall see you all... sometime next year probably.

Same bat time, same bat channel.


	17. Kigo Must Be Laughing

Haha. Guess who's back! Yeah yeah, I know this is long overdue, I'll spare you all the excuses. But I will say this... muses are incredibly evil. They'll be there one day, then disappear for who knows how long. Bleh.

Once again, thanks a gajillionmilliontrillion to all the reviewers. Seriously. You guys rocked my pants off. In a good way. And I try to reply to all the signed reviews, if you review anonymously then I might not get to ya, sorry! But I still appreciate it!

Anyways, here's the next chapter I suppose. And on the 4th of July. How awesome of me, right? Heh. And I swear the whole updating on holidays thing is a total coincidence... an odd one... but a coinkydink nonetheless.

Alright, before you read this... just a heads up... I really don't know how/why it ended up the way it did... I'm just really weird. So yeah, just don't be uber surprised if there are a ton of really odd references.

**Disclaimer: C'mon... it's America's birfday today. So can't I at least own Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush? I'll even settle for one. Blah! Yadda yadda yadda, they're not mine. But just you wait... one day...**

* * *

After Taylor had gotten over her 'shack' incident, she calmed down enough to get her senses back together. "Never again, baby sister."

Haley rolled her eyes at the older girl. "Really now Tay, it's not like I'm going to be asking you to go into any outhouses anytime soon," she paused and continued after a moment, "Hell, it's not like I'd ask you to do it at all. I mean what are the chances of seeing another one?"

"How would I know? I don't even know what state we're in anymore." Now that she thought about it, Taylor had completely forgotten why she was participating in the road trip in the first place. Besides having an excuse to be with Peyton for awhile, she really had no other reason for being with the trio. "You know what? I don't even know what I'm doing here with y'all."

Her baby sister narrowed her eyes at her. "Oh you know," Haley started, "…you know."

Taylor quirked an eyebrow at Haley. "O…k? Form a coherent sentence then get back to me baby sis."

Eye roll number two. Haley gave a resounding scoff, "You think you're all that… but you're not!"

Peyton glanced at Haley, "Did… did you just seriously quote something from Kim Possible?" Shock was evident on the blonde's face.

"I… Uh…," Haley nervously looked back and forth at the other girls thinking up an excuse. _Oh crap! _She repressed images of herself in her jammies on the couch on Saturday mornings eagerly anticipating Drakken's latest plot. "Wait, how would you know it was from Kim Possible?"

Double taking, Peyton now looked at the girls nervously. _Oh just come out with it already. You know you have a thing for green weirdoes._ _Shut up. She may be fictional but she's kinda hot. _"Hey hey hey! Don't you try to change the subject here."

Now that things were taking an interesting turn, Taylor decided to butt in, "My my, what do we have here… Who's this Kim? Do I know her?" _ She single?_

Smiling Brooke shook her head, "Doofus, it's a cartoon. Doy!"

At hearing the usage of the word 'doy', Peyton and Haley both turned to look at Brooke with shocked expressions. "You watch it too!," they cheered in unison.

Brooke scrambled to make a quick cover, "What? Nah…," she chuckled uneasily. "I have no idea what you're talking about. In fact, I've never even heard of this show till just this moment!" She internally gave herself a pat on the back. _What a great cover. I'm so great. _All vanity aside, Brooke hoped Peyton and Haley would believe her ridiculous excuse. If word got out she still liked kids' shows it would be the end for her image.

Peyton pulled Brooke towards herself and Haley, "It's ok Brooke…," she put her arms around her and Haley. "This can only bring us closer… now we can bond over our love for a show about a teenage cheerleader saving the world from a silly blue man."

Concurring, Haley added, "Yes yes. Now we can grow old watching Kim Possible and die together. This way we'll know we'll be friends till the end."

Instead of interest, Taylor now looked at the three girls with a perplexed look. "Alright… this is getting really weird. You're all really weird… anyone ever tell you that?" She honestly could not believe that girls their age would still be watching cartoons. And be able to quote it at that. And yeah there was the weird friends for life thing too. But that's not as bad as still watching cartoons.

As a reply, all three girls stuck their tongues out at Taylor.

"Hmm… yes. Very mature. But then again I shouldn't have expected anything else from a bunch of 10-year-olds-trapped-in-a-high-schooler's-body."

Breaking herself away from Brooke and Haley, Peyton gave Taylor a look. "Oh get over yourself already," she said grinning. "You still love us."

With a roll of her eyes, Taylor shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know Blondie, you're losing a lot of points with me."

Peyton scoffed, "Like I'd want to get in your pants anyways." _Pfft. You so do. _

Taylor put a hand over her chest in mock hurt, "Ouch. My pride."

"And what do you have to be so proud of?" Peyton teased.

The older girl let out a squeal-like noise that supposedly indicated opposition. "I'll have you know I have plenty to be proud of. Just look at all this!" Taylor pointed at herself, showcasing her finest qualities. _You go girl!_

Peyton raked her eyes up and down Taylor's body. _Well… yeah, that's true. _But damnit, like hell she'd admit right now what she really thought of Taylor's finest.

Inside, Taylor squirmed with delight at the fact that Peyton was checking her out. In her mind, that could mean nothing but progress. _I'll get you yet Blondie._

Brooke looked on at the pair with amusement. "God, you two should just go and make out already. Damn." _I mean really. They're both so obvious. Girls' got it bad_.

Blushing, Peyton took her gaze off Taylor. _Oh yes. How very tactful of you Brooke._

Taylor however, took Brooke's boldness as a challenge. "Oh yeah? And what about you and Haley? You both look like you're already doing the horizontal dance… er… except you're both standing right now." She couldn't help but notice since Peyton broke free of Brooke and Haley, the two were still embracing each other.

Realizing this, Haley let go of Brooke begrudgingly. "Oh you know… we were just caught up in the moment… right?" she looked over at Brooke with a guilty look.

Brooke felt a pang of sadness at the sudden loss of contact. "Yeah… right." _Well that was a big ol' Rejected with a capital 'R'. _And here she thought she was starting to get through to Haley. But Brooke's not one to take things like this lying down. Not at all. _Guess I'll just have to try harder then. _With a renewed sense of spirit, Brooke looped her arm with Haley's. "After all that bonding we just did, I suppose we can officially start calling ourselves best friends for life, don't ya think?" she asked with a thousand watt smile.

If Brooke's smile were any more charming, Haley would've swooned more times than she could count. All she could do was reply with a simple, "For sure," to which Brooke returned with a wink.

Looking over at Peyton, Brooke smirked. "Would ya look at that, looks like you just got replaced," she said jokingly.

"Your words hurt me deeply," Peyton returned with a pout.

"Aww. Group hug!" Brooke rushed over to Peyton, dragging Haley with her. She engulfed Peyton in a bone crushing hug that only true best friends can do so well. She urged Haley and Taylor to join in the fun of possibly breaking poor Peyton in half.

Thinking why the hell not, the sisters hugged the hell out of Peyton.

"Ok guys… I appreciate all this but really… I can't breathe," Peyton grunted from under the three bodies currently crushing her.

One by one, the girls let Peyton go of their wrath. Except for Brooke, who seemed to hold on as long as she could. "Seriously Brooke. You can let go now," Peyton tried wriggling free.

Brooke gave one last squeeze before letting go. "Just wanted to make sure I got my point across."

"And that would be…," the blonde waited for Brooke to go on.

"That I love you, duh," she said with an sincere smile.

"Aww, I love you too Brookie," Peyton embraced Brooke loosely, not wanting a repeat of what just happened.

"Bleh!" Taylor looked at the exchange with cynicism. "Y'all are too mushy."

Haley turned to Taylor and mustered up the cutest pout she could. "Tay Tay? Why aren't you ever like that with me?" she pointed towards Brooke and Peyton.

_Must… resist… _Try as she might, even Taylor couldn't escape the wrath that is Haley's pout. "Ugh, you know I love you Haley-Bub. Must you always make me say it?"

Continuing her pout, Haley nodded.

"Fine, fine. I love you, I love you, I love you. Happy now? Ya big baby." Taylor joked.

Still with the pout, Haley was not satisfied. "Can I… can I get a hug?"

Rolling her eyes, Taylor succumbed and hugged her little sister. She had half a mind to give her the Peyton treatment but figured that might not be best. "Happy now?"

Haley burst into a grin. "Ecstatic."

"Alright ladies," Brooke interjected. "Let's get this party back on the road, shall we?"

Taylor shrugged. "Might as well. Must look kind of weird to all the people driving by that there are 4 gorgeous girls just standing on the side of the road."

Brooke chuckled, "We must look like hitchers… Ew."

"Why 'ew'?" Peyton questioned.

"You know what? I don't know," Brooke replied dismissively. "C'mon gal pals, let's go already," she urged the others by walking ahead to the abandoned car.

"Well we know one thing's for sure… Peyton's not driving," Taylor said seriously. She obviously did not want a repeat of the near death experience. Life was far too good at the moment seeing how she's making progress with Peyton.

"Kay then, who's driving?" Haley piped in. _Sure as hell isn't going to be me._

"Oh!" Brooke turned around suddenly. "Nose game!"

"Nose wha-," Before Haley could finish asking, Brooke, Peyton, and Taylor all had their fingers on the tips of their noses, leaving Haley's nose finger-less.

Seeing the odd one out, Brooke, Peyton, and Taylor all had devious grins on their faces.

"Guess we know who's driving."

* * *

See? Told ya it was weird. I honestly don't know how I managed to write a whole chapter with basically... nothing happening. I'm starting to think this thing doesn't even have a plot anymore. Yet I continue it. wtf. 

And for the record... I myself don't personally watch Kim Possible... I swear!

Also, if you don't get the nose game thing... eh. Ignore it then. It's just a thing that a lot of kids in school do. And adults too apparently. Or so I'm told.

Well then. I guess I shall see you all... around the next holiday? Halloween it is then! Yes yes. I'd say expect the next update to be around then if the weird coinkydink continues.

Review if you wish to rock my pants off. In the good way of course. Harlots!

Ciao!


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